Jie Wei awarded American Physical Society’s 2026 Robert R. Wilson Prize

Jie Wei, director of FRIB’s Accelerator Systems Division and professor of physics at FRIB and in MSU’s Department of Physics and Astronomy, has been awarded the American Physical Society’s (APS) 2026 Robert R. Wilson Prize for Achievement in the Physics of Particle Accelerators.

Wei earned the honor for his leadership in developing, constructing, and commissioning the FRIB accelerator, the most powerful continuous-wave superconducting linear accelerator for heavy ions, and for his work in high-intensity hadron accelerator physics and technology.

“I am deeply honored to have been entrusted with the opportunity to lead the FRIB accelerator team,” Wei said. “It is a true privilege to contribute to the mission of the FRIB Laboratory. I am most fortunate to work with a team of talented and dedicated leaders, scientists and engineers who made FRIB successful. I am sincerely humbled by this award and recognition, and I remain committed to serving FRIB and the broader accelerator community with dedication.”

Wei’s work spans nearly four decades of research, teaching, research and development, and management in particle accelerators, large-scale science projects, and major user facilities. As the FRIB Accelerator Systems Division director, he leads a team responsible for the design, research and development, construction, commissioning, and operations of the accelerator complex. His scientific research involves accelerator physics of high-energy colliders and high-intensity hadron accelerators, beam cooling and crystallization, development of spallation neutron sources, development of compact pulsed hadron sources, and development of accelerators for rare-isotope beams.

“Congratulations to Jie on receiving the APS Robert R. Wilson Prize,” said FRIB Laboratory Director Thomas Glasmacher. “Under his leadership, we built the FRIB accelerator, and his expertise in leading a team to develop and commission advanced superconducting linear accelerators has strengthened FRIB’s mission and advanced the broader field of high-intensity accelerator science. This well-deserved recognition reflects the importance of his leadership in pushing the limits of accelerator performance and enabling new opportunities for discovery.”

Wei obtained his PhD in physics at Stony Brook University in 1989. He was inspired to enter the particle accelerators field by his advisor, C.N. Yang, who, in 1986, stated that “the future of high energy physics is in accelerator physics,” and earned his PhD jointly under C.N. Yang and E.D. Courant.

Wei was named an APS Fellow in 2003 and has received several awards throughout his career, including the first International Particle Accelerator Conference (IPAC) Award, the first Union for Accelerator-driven Neutron Sources Award, the MSU College of Natural Science’s Outstanding Faculty Award, and the U.S. Department of Energy Achievement Award.

APS established the Robert R. Wilson Prize in 1986 to recognize and encourage outstanding achievements in the physics of particle accelerators. Robert R. Wilson was an American experimental physicist known for leading the Manhattan Project’s Cyclotron Group, and later, its Physics Research Division, at Los Alamos, New Mexico, during World War II. He also led the construction of the 400-gigaelectron volt accelerator at the National Accelerator Laboratory, later renamed Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory.

Michigan State University (MSU) operates the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB) as a user facility for the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science (DOE-SC), with financial support from and furthering the mission of the DOE-SC Office of Nuclear Physics.