The FRIB Project team received a U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Secretary of Energy Achievement Award—DOE’s highest form of employee recognition for achievements—at the annual Secretary’s Honor Awards ceremony held 20 February. The event included an address from U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm and award presentations from Deputy Secretary David M. Turk.
The Secretary’s Honor Awards are given every year to individuals and teams whose service has gone above and beyond expectations and for contributions having lasting impacts on both DOE and the United States. These awards are among the highest forms of internal, non-monetary recognition DOE federal and contractor employees can receive. The DOE Office of Science nominated the FRIB Project team for the award.
“I would like to recognize the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams—FRIB—for their exceptional project planning skills, discipline in project management, and resilience in the face of unforeseen challenges to successfully complete the 14-year construction of FRIB—on cost and ahead of schedule,” said Under Secretary for Science and Innovation Geri Richmond. “FRIB was designed to be the most powerful heavy ion accelerator in the world for the production of short-lived nuclei. Its construction allows for 85 percent of all isotopes predicted to exist in nature to be accessed, more than 2.5 times the number of isotopes previously even known. This new Office of Science user facility has an interactive user community of over 1,800 scientists, and the successful construction of FRIB opens new research and technical horizons, significantly advancing multiple DOE missions and underpinning the future science and technology leadership, security, and competitiveness of the United States.”
FRIB, which began construction in May 2009, was completed in January 2022 and officially opened in May 2022.
“We are honored to receive this meaningful recognition, and grateful for the continued support of the U.S. government and the American taxpayers to operate FRIB in service to the nation,” said FRIB Laboratory Director Thomas Glasmacher. “This award truly is for the entire FRIB Project team, without whom there would be no FRIB, which we are privileged to operate as a U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science user facility, enabling scientists to make discoveries.”
FRIB Laboratory Director Thomas Glasmacher, former Project Manager and Deputy Laboratory Director Paul Mantica, former Scientific Director Brad Sherrill, Experimental Systems Director Georg Bollen, and Accelerator Systems Division Director Jie Wei accepted the award on behalf of the FRIB Project team.
Michigan State University operates FRIB as a user facility for the DOE Office of Science (DOE-SC), supporting the mission of the DOE-SC Office of Nuclear Physics. Hosting what is designed to be the most powerful heavy-ion accelerator, FRIB enables scientists to make discoveries about the properties of rare isotopes (that is, short-lived nuclei not normally found on Earth), nuclear astrophysics, fundamental interactions, and applications for society, including in medicine, homeland security, and industry.