EAST LANSING, Mich. — A $730 million project that started 13 years ago at Michigan State University is now complete. MSU’s Facility for Rare Isotope Beams held a ribbon-cutting ceremony this morning.
“FRIB will be the core piece of our nation’s research infrastructure and today we cut the ribbon to begin our mission of enabling scientific discovery,” said FRIB Lab Director, Thomas Glasmacher.
Hundreds of people, along with U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, Governor Gretchen Whitmer, and other government leaders gathered inside the Wharton Center to witness Samuel Stanley cut the green ribbon— marking the grand opening of MSU’s Facility for Rare Isotope Beams.
“This FRIB is really the final step in the journey that began in 2008 and the beginning of a new chapter for Michigan's and MSU’s story. Over a decade ago The Department of Energy, MSU, and the state came together to make a bet on Michigan. The bet has paid off,” said Whitmer.
FRIB will be a user facility for the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science. It will also house the most powerful heavy-ion accelerator which will propel beams of charged particles to half the speed of light to create rare isotopes.
“We can make all kinds of isotopes any kind of isotopes. And we can make designer isotopes when medical folks tell us I need this element because it metabolizes in certain cells more quickly and then it decays in there and kills the cancer,” Glasmacher said.
It will allow scientists to answer fundamental questions about how the elements were created and the forces that hold matter together.
“It will help MSU continue to attract the best and brightest faculty, staff and students to our campus and into our natural science and engineering colleges and other programs,” Stanley said.
Research done at FRIB could lead to innovations in nuclear medicine, security, and alternative energy.
Read more details and take a look inside the facility here.
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