The FRIB Theory Alliance is seeking outstanding candidates for a FRIB Theory Fellow. The Fellow will be hosted at Michigan State University. The successful candidate will conduct independent or collaborative research on theoretical nuclear structure, reactions, astrophysics, and/or fundamental symmetries relevant to the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB). The FRIB Theory Alliance is a consortium of universities and national laboratories actively engaged in theoretical research in FRIB science. FRIB is a national user facility for nuclear science, funded by the DOE Office of Science and operated by Michigan State University.
The FRIB Theory Fellowship is a two-year position with the possibility of renewal for a maximum of five years. The initial stipend is $90k and this position has an annual travel budget of up to $5k. The FRIB Theory Fellow will be an employee of Michigan State University. As a PhD in Physics is a minimum requirement to be appointed to this position, candidates must either hold a PhD or be on track to successfully complete their PhD before the start of the fellowship in 2026. The successful candidate must demonstrate great promise for high achievement in theoretical research relevant to FRIB science. Past fellows have a track record of moving directly into open faculty or permanent staff positions.
Please apply at Academic Jobs Online. Applications received by October 10, 2025 will receive full consideration. Three reference letters are also due by this date. If there are any questions, please contact Nicole Vassh (nvassh@triumf.ca).
All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, citizenship, age, disability or protected veteran status.
The FRIB Users Organization Executive Committee and FRIB Theory Alliance Executive Board are pleased to announce the winners of the 2025 FRIB Achievement Award for Early Career Researchers.
The 2025 recipient for the Experimental Award is Dr. Erich Leistenschneider, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, for their innovative work on precision spectroscopy and techniques at FRIB.
The 2025 Theory Award recipient is Dr. Cole Pruitt, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory for their pioneering work on uncertainty quantified optical models.
The FRIB Achievement Award for Early Career Researchers was established to recognize outstanding original contributions to the field of nuclear physics through work at or relating to FRIB, performed by scientists early in their careers. The recipients will present their work during the plenary session at the Low Energy Community Meeting and receive a stipend to support their participation.
Please join us in congratulating this year's winners!
Andrea Richard and Calvin Johnson
on behalf of the FRIBUOEC and FRIBTAEB
Dr. Pooja Siwach, currently a postdoctoral fellow at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, has accepted a FRIB Theory Bridge faculty position in the Department of Physics at the University of Arizona. Her research lies at the intersection of nuclear structure, neutrino physics, and quantum computing. Congratulations, Pooja!
If you have an interest in forging new or continuing collaborations with European colleagues, this travel grant is for you. Students and postdocs are encouraged to apply.
For additional information regarding EUSTIPEN click here.
Dr. Chien-Yeah Seng, former FRIB Theory Alliance fellow accepted a postion at The University of Tennessee, Knoxville as an Assistant Professor. Visit https://physics.utk.edu/people/instructional-faculty/seng-chien-yeah/ for additional information.
Please join me in congratulating two of our members, Professors Dick Furnstahl (The Ohio State University) and Baha Balantekin (University of Wisconsin-Madison) for being awarded the 2025 APS Herman Feshbach and Hans A. Bethe Prizes, respectively.
The Herman Feshbach Prize Herman serves to recognize and encourage outstanding research in theoretical nuclear physics. Professor Furnstahl’s citation reads:
“For foundational contributions to calculations of nuclei, including applying the Similarity Renormalization Group to the nuclear force, grounding nuclear density functional theory in those forces, and using Bayesian methods to quantify the uncertainties in effective field theory predictions of nuclear observables."
The Hans A. Bethe Prize serves to recognize outstanding work in theory, experiment or observation in the areas of astrophysics, nuclear physics, nuclear astrophysics, or closely related fields. Professor Balantekin’s citation reads:
"For seminal contributions to neutrino physics and astrophysics — especially the neutrino flavor transformation problem — both for solar neutrinos and the nonlinear supernova environment."
In addition to doing great physics, Dick and Baha have been very engaged in serving and promoting the needs of the larger nuclear physics community. Both of them were very instrumental to the early success of the FRIB-TA, serving on the Executive Board from 2015-2020.
OHIO's Dr. Christian Drischler was recently recognized with the prestigious NSF CAREER Award for early-career faculty and scientists. Through funding from the award, Drischler will advance the scientific community's understanding of theoretical nuclear physics and nuclear astrophysics.
Visit https://www.ohio.edu/news/2024/09/dr-christian-drischler-receives-2024-nsf-career-award-advance-research-educate for additional information.
"FRIB is a discovery machine. It will enable researchers to investigate what holds together the atomic nuclei were made of and how those elements were created.To understand that, scientists study rare isotopes."
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