2022 has been an eventful year for the Nuclear Science Division with many successes in science, funding, awards, and advancements of major projects. I feel privileged to have joined Berkeley Lab and the NSD in mid-2022.
2023 promises to be an exciting year. The U.S. nuclear science community, with strong involvement by division members, is developing its new NSAC Long Range Plan. Major projects of the division are advancing with GRETA moving into the integration phase, EIC R&D and design efforts ramping up, infrastructure renewals at the 88-Inch cyclotron progressing, the MARS ECR magnet advancing, and CUPID preparing for its CD-1 review later this year. Members of the NSD Theory group are involved in 5 newly funded topical collaborations and are welcoming Raul Briceno to Berkeley, joining LBNL and the UC Berkeley Physics Department on a joint appointment.
This issue of the NSD Newsletter touches on color in two very different contexts: (i) the theory of quantum chromodynamics revealing how short range correlations of nucleons might be facilitated by di-quark correlations; and (ii) considerations when choosing colors for graphics and signs in order to be inclusive of people that are color blind. This issue also includes a brief portrait of the LBNL Scintillator Research Group, which recently joined the Nuclear Science Division, further bolstering the division’s capacity and expertise for advanced research on radiation detectors and their applications.
I am wishing everyone a healthy, safe, and successful year 2023.