Paul Mantica, former FRIB project manager and FRIB deputy laboratory director and current Facilities & Project Management Division director at the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science Office of Nuclear Physics, has been named the 2022 recipient of the W. Frank Kinard Distinguished Service Award by the American Chemical Society (ACS). Mantica received the award for his contributions to nuclear chemistry.

The annual award recognizes members of the ACS Division of Nuclear Chemistry and Technology (NUCL) for their outstanding service to the division and field of nuclear science.

Mantica served a joint appointment with FRIB and MSU’s Department of Chemistry for the past 27 years and supported the technical construction phase and the transition of FRIB to operations and the integration of the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory (NSCL).

A world-renowned nuclear physical chemist known for his research on beta decay and electromagnetic moments of rare isotopes carried out at NSCL, Mantica was a member of the Nuclear Science Advisory Committee (2014) and is a Fellow of the American Physical Society and ACS. He was also chair (2014) of ACS NUCL and is a Project Management Professional certified by the Project Management Institute.

Mantica received his bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and his PhD in nuclear chemistry from University of Maryland, College Park. He came to MSU in 1995 following a five-year stay at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

Mantica received the honor at ACS’s spring meeting in Indianapolis, Indiana.

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), supporting the mission of the DOE-SC Office of Nuclear Physics. User facility operation is supported by the DOE-SC Office of Nuclear Physics as one of 28 DOE-SC user facilities.

The U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States and is working to address some of today’s most pressing challenges. For more information, visit energy.gov/science.