The Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) and Michigan State University (MSU) International Research Laboratory on Nuclear Physics and Astrophysics (IRL NPA) held its inaugural science meeting 11-13 December at FRIB. The purpose of the meeting was to consolidate existing collaborations and launch new ones, and to share new proposals and ideas for opportunities to work together.

The meeting addressed frontier research carried out in France and at FRIB. Meeting topics included:

• Nuclear structure and reactions from stability to rare isotopes
• Nuclear astrophysics from nuclear reactions in the cosmos to extreme-matter equation of state
• Nuclear theory for finite nuclei and uniform matter
• Instrumental developments of common interest for the Large Heavy Ion National Accelerator (GANIL) in France and FRIB

CNRS and MSU established IRL NPA in July. The IRL NPA will be permanently staffed with French scientists dedicated to answering fundamental nuclear physics and astrophysics research questions. CNRS has nearly 80 international research laboratories worldwide, and IRL NPA at FRIB is the first dedicated to nuclear physics and astrophysics, leveraging FRIB’s world-unique research capabilities.

Michigan State University operates the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams as a user facility for the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science (DOE-SC), supporting the mission of the DOE-SC Office of Nuclear Physics.