RUI: Nuclear Physics Research with Undergraduate Students: Nuclear Structure Theory and its Applications to Nuclear Astrophysics.

The project engages Grand Valley State University students in nuclear structure theory and its applications to nuclear astrophysics. The proposed project aims to explore fundamental scientific inquiries, such as the origin of the elements in the universe and the chemical evolution of stars and galaxies. These goals will be achieved through the development of theoretical models for the prediction of nuclear structure properties of stable and the most neutron-rich nuclei and the exploration of the nucleosynthesis of heavy elements.

Computational tools for nuclear structure theory will be developed, evaluated against experimental and theoretical data, and applied in nuclear astrophysics applications. Undergraduate students supported by the project will be offered cutting-edge research opportunities in nuclear theory, helping to train the next generation of STEM workforce through their involvement in code development, drafting scientific manuscripts for peer-reviewed journals, and presenting their work at national conferences.

Computational models will be developed to generate nuclear level densities for stable nuclei and those away from stability, which are not accessible in the laboratory. These results will be benchmarked against available experimental data from different databases, state-of-the-art experimental data from FRIB and predictions from other theoretical models.

The nuclear level densities play a pivotal role in understanding the formation of elements heavier than iron in the universe. The nuclear level densities will be extrapolated to stellar environment temperatures, enabling the calculation of reliable cross-sections and nuclear reaction rates. These outputs will be used for the exploration of the elemental abundancies produced by the r-process.

Undergraduate students will take an active part in every aspect of the research and dissemination of the results. Outreach activities in nuclear physics will also be developed in collaboration with the Regional Math and Science Center of GVSU for K-12 students.

This project advances the objectives of "Windows on the Universe: the Era of Multi-Messenger Astrophysics", one of the 10 Big Ideas for Future NSF Investments.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.