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Michigan State University campus
MSU Cyclotron
Use	Cyclotron
Style	International Style
Erected	1963 (K500)
Demolished	N/A
Location	Science area
Namesake	None
Architect	Black (1963) et al.
Number of cyclotrons	2
Website	NSCL Homepage

The National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory.

National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory (NSCL) at Michigan State University (MSU) is a world-leading rare isotope research laboratory and an important training ground for next-generation nuclear scientists in the United States. Now, NSCL is planning for a significant capability upgrade that will keep the laboratory – and nuclear science – at the cutting edge well into the 21st century.

The upgrade plans are in close alignment with a report issued December 2006 by the National Academies, "Scientific Opportunities with a Rare-Isotope Facility in the United States," which defines a scientific agenda for a U.S.-based rare-isotope facility and addresses the need for such a facility in context of international efforts in this area.

The proposed upgrade of NSCL – the Isotope Science Facility – will boost intensities and varieties of rare isotope beams produced at MSU. Such beams will allow researchers and students to address a host of questions at the intellectual frontier of nuclear science: How does the behavior of novel and short-lived nuclei differ from more stable nuclei? What is the nature of nuclear processes in explosive stellar environments? What is the structure of hot nuclear matter at abnormal densities?

Beyond basic research, the Isotope Science Facility may lead to cross-disciplinary benefits. Experiments there will help astronomers better interpret data from ground- and space-based observatories. Scientists at the Isotope Science Facility will contribute to research on self-organization and complexity arising from elementary interactions, a topic relevant to the life sciences and quantum computing. Additionally, the facility's capabilities may lead to advances in fields as diverse as biomedicine, materials science, national and international security, and nuclear energy.

Today, approximately 10 percent of U.S. nuclear science Ph.D.s are educated at NSCL. The nuclear physics graduate program at MSU is ranked second only to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the 2007 Best Grad Schools index published by U.S. News & World Report.

NSCL maintains an ongoing commitment to attracting the next generation of scientists, teaching and mentoring them, and even helping them find their first jobs, whether in nuclear science or in other fields. This commitment is part of the motivation to build the Isotope Science Facility on the campus of MSU, one of the world’s leading research universities.

• Isotope Science Facility at Michigan State University
• "Scientific Opportunities with a Rare-Isotope Facility in the United States" A report by the National Academies
• "Nuclear science hits new frontiers" A commentary by NSCL Director C. Konrad Gelbke in the December 2006 CERN Courier
• “NSCL nets $100 million in NSF funds” MSU News Bulletin, Oct. 26, 2006
• The Spartan Podcast -- Arden L. Bement, Jr. An audio interview with NSF Director Arden L. Bement, Jr. who visited MSU Oct. 26, 2006 to award NSCL more than $100 million to fund operations through 2011, highlighting the lab’s status as a world-leading nuclear science facility