The campaign to “bring the FRIB to our crib” is already reaping benefits. Lansing’s Mayor Virg Bernero mentioned the FRIB slogan in his State of the City address, projecting that when the $550-million federal Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB) is online in East Lansing in 2017, it will create 400 new jobs.
But the FRIB’s home, Michigan State University’s National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory (NCSL) is already reaping benefits.
Job postings went up Feb. 9 for “several” physicists in the categories of nuclear physics and particle astrophysics. They will fill positions in the area of rare isotope beam research and development.
The list of required backgrounds is right out of Star Trek, with terms like “charge breeding with electron beam ion traps” and “stopping techniques for beams of rare isotopes produced by projectile fragmentation.” Salary range was not available but details are available on the Web site.
If MSU had lost the bid for the FRIB, the MSU cyclotron would most likely have closed, says Geoff Koch, spokesman for the NCSL. But the cyclotron, a type of particle accelerator, will join a new neighbor, the $550-million federal nuclear research facility, once construction begins in about five years.
The cyclotron, a type of particle accelerator, will be updated to house the FRIB once construction begins in about five years.
A new office wing is under construction as is a new low energy accelerator, thanks to a multi-million cash infusion from the university, Koch says.
Source: Geoff Koch, NSCL
Gretchen Cochran, Innovation & Jobs editor, may be reached here.
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