Rare Isotope Accelerator (RIA)

Contact: Howard Gobstein, MSU Governmental Affairs, (202) 678-4000, gobstein@msu.edu; or Tom Oswald, University Relations, (517) 355-228, oswald@msu.edu

From left: Konrad Gelbke, director of the National Superconducting Cyclotron Lab (NSCL) at MSU; Hendrik Schatz, MSU assistant professor of physics and astronomy; Arthur Cole, visiting research associate at NSCL; Congressman Dave Camp of Michigan; and MSU graduate students Deborah Davies and Mark Wallace. (Photo by Kurt Stepnitz, University Relations.)

Scientists from Michigan State University and around the nation converged on Washington, D.C., Wednesday, May 11, to deliver a letter signed by more than 800 of their colleagues urging U.S. governmental officials to continue to move forward the Rare Isotope Accelerator, or RIA, project.

Delivery of the letter, which was hand delivered to the Department of Energy, as well as key members of Congress, was the latest in an effort to keep interest in the project alive.

In 2001, the Nuclear Science Advisory Committee endorsed RIA as the highest priority for major construction that year. In 2003, it tied for third in the Department of Energy priority list of 28 future science facilities. However, earlier this year the Bush administration, citing severe budget constraints, proposed spending $4 million on research in fiscal year 2006 for RIA, well below the $9 million appropriated for this year, fiscal year 2005.

RIA would be a nuclear accelerator facility designed to study isotopes that decay in a very short time (“rare” isotopes). In addition to advancing science and discovering new insights that could lead to breakthroughs in fields such as medicine and astronomy, the project would generate both short- and long-term benefits for the state of Michigan.

The project could create as many as 1,600 jobs, bring nearly $1 billion in federal funds to the university and have an estimated total economic impact of nearly $2 billion over the next 20 years.

• Scientists make case for future of nuclear physics

• The Rare Isotope Accelerator – basic facts

• RIA support letter (PDF)*

• Photos from Washington, D.C.

• Team continues with RIA efforts – MSU News Bulletin

• RIA in Michigan Web site

• RIA User's Organization Web site

• The Rare Isotope Accelerator (RIA) – National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory at MSU Web site

• Technical Approach to the Rare Isotope Accelerator – National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory at MSU Web site

• Argonne National Laboratory RIA Web site

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