Center for the Study of Biocomplexity Homepage

Members of the University of Notre Dame Interdisciplinary Center for the Study of Biocomplexity (ICSB) (http://www.nd.edu/~icsb/) come from eight departments from the schools of science and engineering and are working together to meld physical, mathematical, and computational approaches with those of modern biology to understand this complexity in a quantitative and predictive way. One of the main goals of the ICSB is to improve communication between biological, mathematical and physical scientists with emphasis on developing techniques and tools of broad utility to bioscientists

All ICSB projects combine quantitative experiments and computer simulation and build on the mutually complementary strength of the researchers at Notre Dame with the support from collaborators at other institutions. Projects currently under way within the center include:

The Joint Institute for Nuclear Astrophysics (JINA) is a collaboration between the University of Notre Dame, Michigan State University, and the University of Chicago to address a broad range of experimental, theoretical, and observational questions in nuclear astrophysics. In the fall of 2003, JINA received a five year grant by the National Science Foundation Physics Frontier Center (PFC) program. This funding offers the opportunity for JINA to develop as an intellectual center with the goal enabling swift communication and stimulating collaborations across field boundaries and at the same time providing a focus point in the rapidly growing and diversifying field of nuclear astrophysics.

Nuclear astrophysics focuses on questions at the interface of nuclear physics and astrophysics. It addresses the role of nuclear structure and nuclear reaction processes as engines of stellar evolution and stellar explosions and seeks to find answers to the fundamental questions about the origin of the elements found today throughout the universe. Because of the extreme nature of the stellar conditions, the understanding of these nuclear processes poses an enormous challenge to astrophysics, nuclear theorists, and experimentalists. Advances in experimental nuclear astrophysics now allow physicists to investigate many stellar processes in the laboratory. These advances span a wide range of techniques and facilities. They include innovative methods to measure the extremely slow reactions in the interiors of stars, as well as new facilities to produce the very same exotic, short-lived nuclei that come to existence in the extreme environments of stellar explosions.

While these experiments are pursued at the accelerator facilities at Notre Dame, Michigan State University, and Argonne National Laboratory, complementary theoretical questions about the macrophysics aspects and conditions of stellar evolution and stellar explosion are addressed by JINA at the University of Chicago, at Notre Dame, and with associated groups at the University of California at Santa Cruz and Santa Barbara, the University of Arizona, Argonne National Laboratory and Los Alamos National Laboratory. This component branches towards fundamental understanding of the processes governing life and death of stars as well as to the identification of unique signatures for present and future observation. Close collaboration and exchange of scientists between these institutions is necessary to address the broad and complex range of scientific goals.

JINA will foster an interdisciplinary approach to the open questions in nuclear astrophysics. It will drive further advances in nuclear physics and astrophysics that are specifically needed to answer open questions in nuclear astrophysics, and it will ensure that advances in individual fields will ultimately lead to progress in our understanding of nuclear astrophysics. Find out more about JINA by visiting our website at www.JINAweb.org.

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The Institute for Theoretical Sciences Homepage

The U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory and the University of Notre Dame have entered into an agreement to create a new joint Institute for Theoretical Sciences.

The purpose of the Institute for Theoretical Sciences (ITS) is to promote theoretical research at ANL and ND by attracting scientists, junior researchers, as well as graduate students in selected areas of basic and applied theoretical sciences. To achieve its aims, the institute cooperates with all Departments at ND and Divisions at ANL which pursue research in theoretical sciences. Furthermore, the institute coordinates its activities with other domestic and international academic institutions. The institute will promote and encourage the participation of underrepresented groups, such as women and underrepresented minorities at the highest levels of academia and research.

"The institute will provide visiting scientists with the opportunity to pursue research in the intellectually stimulating environments of Notre Dame and the Argonne National Laboratory," said Boldizsár Jankó, executive director of the new institute and associate professor of physics at Notre Dame.

Notre Dame Center for Materials Fabrication & Nanotechnology

Institute for Structure and Nuclear Astrophysics Homepage

Institute for Structure and Nuclear Astrophysics (ISNAP) is the
university center which operates the Nuclear Science Laboratory at Notre Dame. The laboratory is built around three accelerators (JN-VdG, KN-VdG, and an FN-Tandem) and a broad program in low energy nuclear physics. The three accelerators offer a wide range of beam energies providing ideal conditions for nuclear structure and nuclear astrophysics experiments. The FN tandem accelerator operates with a Pelletron charging system up to a terminal voltage of 12 MV. The JN and KN accelerators provide high beam intensities with terminal voltages of up to 1 MV and 4 MV, respectively. We have the capability of producing both stable and unstable beams of various types for research interests that span from Nuclear Structure, studies of Nuclear Reactions with Radioactive Ion Beams (RIBs), and Nuclear Astrophysics. In addition to our basic science interests, we have an interdisciplinary program in radiation chemistry, in bio-mechanics, materials testing, and a newly developing program in collaboration with the Department of Anthropology and the Snite Art Museum using PIXE for element analysis in archaeological samples. Our radiation chemistry program revolves around studies of the effects of ionizing radiation on the molecular decomposition of water and various organic materials, including polymers. The practical aspect of this type of work has direct implications to the management of nuclear reactors, and treatment or storage of radio-active waste media. This work is carried out in collaboration with the Department of Energy funded Radiation Laboratory which is also located at Notre Dame and an outgrowth of the Manhattan project. We pursue research with two industries. This work involves testing new detectors as well as artificial human body components for durability. The laboratory has a large number of users from some 16 US facilities inclusive of National Laboratories and Universities, 30 foreign countries, and 2 industries. The operation of the laboratory is funded by the NSF. The NSF grant was renewed in 2008 for another three years of funding. In 2008 ISNAP also received MRI funding for the purchase and installation of a new high intensity heavy ion accelerator for inverse kinematics experiments

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