Graduate Students
Earn your graduate degree through MSU’s Department of Physics and Astronomy, Department of Chemistry, or College of Engineering by working with the world’s top faculty and staff at FRIB.
Study at a top research university
MSU is a university with very high research activity, one of only 146 as classified by the Carnegie Foundation. As such, FRIB faculty and staff are uniquely positioned to train future scientists and technical experts as the laboratory carries out its research mission. Explore the theories you learned in nuclear physics courses in the world’s most advanced rare isotope research facility and make new discoveries with societal impact.
Earn your degree in nuclear physics or astrophysics while conducting leading-edge research at FRIB to understand the forces that bind nucleons into nuclei, answer questions about the astrophysical origin of nuclear matter, and address societal needs related to nuclear science and technology. MSU hosts a broad nuclear science curriculum with well-defined learning goals that support the education of the next generation of nuclear science researchers. The DOE-supported TRAIN-MI Program offers graduate students in MSU's Department of Physics and Astronomy and the Department of Chemistry hands-on training in instrumentation for High Energy Physics and Nuclear Science.
MSU’s nuclear physics graduate program is a top-ranked program nationally, according to U.S. News & World Report.
Explore how nuclear matter assembles itself in systems from nuclei to neutron stars as a graduate student in nuclear chemistry. Gain a deeper understanding of nuclear reactions that are important for homeland security and astrophysics, and provide applications for society, including medicine and industry. Supported by a broad nuclear science curriculum with learning goals, graduate students gain the skills they need in their careers as nuclear chemists.
Or bridge the new technology at FRIB to other fields with radiochemistry. For example, byproduct radionuclides from FRIB are collected and purified for use as research tools in other areas like nuclear medicine, biosystems radiotracing, and nuclear forensics for security applications.
As a graduate student in accelerator physics and engineering, you can conduct your thesis work at FRIB, leveraging world-class technologies, instruments, and experts in a world-unique opportunity on a university campus. The Accelerator Science and Engineering Traineeship (ASET) program partners with academic programs at MSU (including the Department of Physics and Astronomy and the College of Engineering) and offers opportunities to perform thesis research at U.S. Department of Energy national laboratories.
Apply to the Department of Physics and Astronomy
Apply to the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Train on state-of-the-art technologies and make advancements in the cryogenic field at FRIB in addition to classroom learning. MSU’s Cryogenic Initiative—a partnership between the College of Engineering and FRIB—helps fill a national need to educate and train the next generation of cryogenic system innovators.
FRIB faculty
Graduate students routinely meet and work side-by-side with leading researchers in nuclear physics, nuclear astrophysics, nuclear chemistry, accelerator physics, and engineering.
