In the News
External news and journal publications discussing FRIB science.
Nuclear News, a publication of the American Nuclear Society, reports on the U.S. Department of Energy’s selection of 12 new Phase II and six new Phase I awards under the U.S. Genesis Mission. The article highlights a Phase II project led by Northeastern University to develop an artificial intelligence (AI) system to improve operations of the Advanced Rare Isotope Separator (ARIS) at FRIB. The system will assist FRIB staff and users with experiment planning, beam tuning, calibration, and monitoring. If successful, the project could provide approximately 500 additional hours of beam time for scientific experiments annually. Michigan State University and Gravitate AI are project partners.
Ohio University highlights research published in Nature that provides new insight into how atomic nuclei emit gamma rays. The study, co-authored by Ohio University physicist Andrea Richard and Eleanor Ronning, a former Michigan State University graduate student, used copper-70 produced at FRIB to investigate an unusual pattern in gamma-ray emissions. The findings provide experimental evidence that the phenomenon is magnetic in nature, helping resolve a longstanding question in nuclear physics and improve models of nuclear reactions involved in the production of elements in stars. The article also highlights the collaboration with FRIB and MSU researchers and the opportunities the project provided for early-career scientists.
Wei Jia Ong, a staff scientist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, has received a 2026 U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science Early Career Research Program award to study how proton-rich nuclei, known as p-nuclei, form in stars. Her research will combine measurements of isotopic abundances in stardust with nuclear reaction experiments to better understand the origins of these nuclei. As part of the project, Ong and her colleagues are preparing experiments at FRIB to directly measure nuclear reaction rates involving highly unstable nuclei.
Innovation News Network reports on the DOE's announcement of $159 million in funding for 12 Phase II research projects under the U.S. Genesis Mission. The projects will use artificial intelligence to accelerate scientific discovery in areas including energy, computing, and fundamental physics. The article highlights a project led by Northeastern University at FRIB to develop an AI-powered assistant that automates and streamlines particle separator operations, improving safety and efficiency while potentially freeing up hundreds of hours of research time each year.
Pulse 2.0 reports on the DOE's announcement of $159 million in funding for 12 Phase II research projects under the U.S. Genesis Mission. The projects will use artificial intelligence to accelerate scientific discovery in areas including energy, computing, and fundamental physics. The article highlights a project led by Northeastern University at FRIB to develop an AI-powered assistant that automates and streamlines particle separator operations, improving safety and efficiency while potentially freeing up hundreds of hours of research time each year.
Science reports on the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) second round of U.S. Genesis Mission awards, including $159 million for 12 three-year projects that will use artificial intelligence (AI) to advance scientific research. Among the projects is an effort led by Northeastern University to develop an AI system to help operate FRIB. The project aims to improve accelerator operations and provide hundreds of additional hours of beam time for scientific experiments each year.
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory researchers have developed CHICOX, a new detector designed to enable highly sensitive studies of nuclear shapes. CHICOX and the Gamma-Ray Energy Tracking Array (GRETA) will be hosted at FRIB, where access to beams of rare isotopes will allow researchers to study increasingly exotic nuclei and advance understanding of nuclear structure.
For a long time there has been a question about the levels of one particular element - strontium, which makes fireworks burn bright red and is used in glow-in-the-dark paint. A new paper published in Nature Communications Physics from a large group of researchers led by Caley M. Harris, a graduate student at FRIB and Michigan State University, thinks they have found an answer for why that particular elemental level was skewed - and doing so required some very elaborate laboratory testing.
Researchers have resolved a long-standing discrepancy in measurements of nuclear size in rare-earth elements, providing new insights into how nuclear charge radii change between neighboring elements. The study, published in Nature Communications, included FRIB faculty member Witek Nazarewicz and found that current nuclear theory cannot fully explain the unexpectedly large differences observed, providing new constraints for future experimental and theoretical studies.
A grant from the U.S. National Science Foundation will support MSU’s Integrated Diamond and Carbon Research in Space Applications (IDiCaRS), designed to accelerate the development and testing of semiconductor technologies for these extreme environments. The new facility will leverage existing MSU capabilities and partnerships, including FRIB.
Michigan State University will establish a new research facility focused on developing electronics that can withstand radiation in space, supported by a $20 million U.S. National Science Foundation grant. Researchers will develop diamond-based chips and test them at FRIB, with potential applications for spacecraft as well as communications technology and other electronics on Earth.
Scientists at FRIB and the Argonne Tandem Linac Accelerator System (ATLAS) have helped resolve a key uncertainty in the nuclear physics reaction that helps understand how strontium is formed in the stars.
