This year, the National Nuclear Physics Summer School, or NNPSS, is being held at UC Riverside, starting July 10. The 10-day conference, an annual event, has been held since 1988 at various locations.

More than 50 physics graduate students and postdoctoral researchers from UCR and universities across the nation are attending the conference this year. They were selected based on their interest in the NNPSS and recommendation letters from their advisors to support their participation. 

Kenneth Barish, a professor of physics and astronomy, and Miguel Arratia, an assistant professor of physics and astronomy, organized the NNPSS on campus. The school comprises lectures, special topics seminars and discussions, and social activities. At an excursion to Loma Linda Proton Therapy Treatment & Research Center, the participants will hear about nuclear medicine and careers in medical physics. They will also visit Huntington Beach State Park.

Scheduled to speak at the conference are more than 12 distinguished speakers from various subfields within nuclear physics, including nuclear structure, nuclear astrophysics, and the science of the future Electron-Ion Collider, a planned major new nuclear physics research facility. Additionally, the conference will cover topics such as the recent nuclear fusion breakthrough at the National Ignition Facility at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, nuclear security, and nuclear medicine.

Nobel laureate Barry Barish, a distinguished professor of physics and astronomy at UCR, is scheduled to give a special lecture next week on the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory, or LIGO, with an emphasis on neutron stars. 

The NNPSS at UCR was funded by the Brookhaven National Laboratory, Jefferson Lab, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, California EIC consortium, National Science Foundation (through the University of Washington), and UC Riverside.

NNPSS 2023

The NNPSS, which began July 10, 2023, at UCR, attracted young researchers from all over the country. The 10-day conference was organized by physicists Kenneth Barish (left) and Miguel Arratia. (UCR/Sandra Baltazar Martinez)