2014-2015 Nuclear Science Advisory Committee
Long Range Plan Working Group Web Site
On April 23, 2014, the Nuclear Science Advisory Committee (NSAC) was charged by the
Department of Energy's Office of Science and the National Science Foundation's Directorate
of Mathematical and Physical Sciences to recommend a new long range plan
to provide a framework for coordinated advancement of the Nation's nuclear
science research programs over the next decade. A copy of the charge is available here or on the NSAC web site. The new plan was unanimously accepted by NSAC on October 15, 2015. This plan, Reaching for the Horizon
, is available here or, again, on the NSAC web site
The last NSAC Long Range Plan, The Frontiers of Nuclear Science, was completed in 2007, and followed previous plans in 1979, 1983, 1989, 1996 and 2002 that have formed the blueprint for nuclear science in the U.S.
As is the tradition in our
community, the Division of Nuclear Physics of the American Physical Society
organized several Town
Meetings to gather community input about the most important scientific
goals to be achieved and the facilities, experiments, theoretical progress and
resources needed to achieve these goals. An update on the progress and plans
for the Long Range Plan was
presented at the Fourth Joint Meeting of the Nuclear Physics Divisions of the
American Physical Society and the Japanese Physical Society on October 8, 2014.
Reports were also heard from each of the Town Meetings.
There was a short
progress report at the NSAC meeting
on November 17, 2014 in Rockville, Maryland, which was an open, public meeting.
A long
range plan working group was formed to prepare the plan (Membership). International observers were
added to ensure an international perspective. The working group had
a first organizational meeting on November 16, 2014. Our vision was to collect
input from the Town Meetings and other community activities by
January 2015, and prepare first drafts of the written report in February and
March 2015. A five-day resolution meeting took place April 16-20, 2015 in Kitty Hawk, NC to
finalize the prioritized set of recommendations for the long
range plan. About half of this resolution meeting was
devoted to receiving more input and was open to the public, with the rest of
the meeting being held in executive session.
The community was encouraged
to provide input at every stage of the process to individual members of the
working groups at the email addresses given above. We welcomed hearing from
everyone. Input documents have been collected here.
Inspired by the symobolism of the Wright brothers' great leap forward in the winds of Kitty Hawk, the new plan offers the promise of great leaps forward in our understanding of nuclear science and new opportunities for nuclear science to serve society.