Michigan State University (MSU) received a U.S. Department of Energy grant from the Stewardship Science Academic Alliance program of the National Nuclear Security Administration. The goal is to develop advanced models of nuclear fission based on nuclear density functional theory and its extensions. Witek Nazarewicz, John A. Hannah Distinguished Professor of Physics and chief scientist at FRIB, is leading the project. The project will carry out global calculation of:

• fission yields used in astrophysical simulations of r-process nucleosynthesis,
• fission lifetimes of transactinide nuclei, and
• synthesis of superheavy elements.

The grant will train junior scientists and students to apply nuclear many-body techniques to describe nuclear fission and other low-energy nuclear phenomena.