Nuclear physics conference draws hundreds of scientists to MSU

From MLive.com: Nuclear physics conference draws hundreds of scientists to MSU
EAST LANSING -- More than 220 of the world’s top nuclear scientists converge on Michigan State University this week for the first-ever joint user meeting of researchers from four of the country’s most prominent nuclear science user facilities.

The four user groups involved come from MSU’s National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory and the soon-to-be-constructed Facility for Rare Isotope Beams, as well as ATLAS at Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois, and HRIBF at Oak Ridge National laboratory in Tennessee.

The gathering is held through Saturday, with most of the sessions taking place in MSU’s Biomedical and Physical Sciences building.

The meeting is a result of the scientists’ common interest in the FRIB project that will be built for the U.S. Department of Energy at MSU. FRIB will make use of developments at each of the current laboratories, and researchers can develop equipment and explore ideas now at places like NSCL, ATLAS and HRIBF.

Scientists are coming to the event from 23 states, nine countries and 48 separate institutions. For three days, the researchers will exchange views and perspectives, present and discuss recent results of their research, articulate emerging research opportunities and instrumentation needs, and strengthen existing collaborations or form new ones.

“User meetings represent a bottom-up process, where important new ideas are vetted and brought to management’s attention,” said Konrad Gelbke, NSCL and FRIB laboratory director. “Past user meetings played a significant role in developing important new initiatives. Our users are our customers, and management listens carefully.”

In the past, users of the various facilities held separate meetings to address issues pertaining only to a particular facility. For example, NSCL users have met every year since the early 1980s and provided significant input to management that helped set new directions or spawn new initiatives.

This year’s joint event marks a major milestone as scientists will not only address facility-specific issues, but also take a look at the field with a much broader perspective.

For more information, visit the meeting’s website (http://meetings.nscl.msu.edu/superuser2011/).