IUCF is a part of the growing sector of the economy of Indiana that is based on innovation in science and technology. Many of the 120 employees of IUCF are recruited locally and are trained for their positions by the laboratory.
IUCF is contributing to the health industry in Indiana and beyond. Research into the application of protons in radiation therapy began at IUCF in 1990. This early R&D effort led to the eventual formation of the Midwest Proton Radiotherapy Institute (MPRI), now a fully independent company. The clinic is housed within the IUCF building ensuring a continuing synergistic interaction between the technical and medical expertise. IUCF will assume long-term responsibility for both the operation of the cyclotron accelerators for MPRI and will provide maintenance of the technical infrastructure.
IUCF is also one of the nation’s leaders in the design and construction of the particle detectors used to carry out experiments in basic nuclear physics research. Many of these projects, directed by the faculty and research staff at Indiana University, are located at U.S. national laboratories and at other laboratories around the world (e.g., Fermilab, Brookhaven, Los Alamos or NIST).
The radiation effects facility at IUCF was chosen by NASA as the major test facility for its orbiter program. IUCF has also entered into a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with a nearby Navy facility, NAVSEA Crane, for the purpose of conducting collaborative research in the field of radiation effects in electronics.
Over the next few years IUCF will build the first pulsed cold neutron scattering facility to be built at any university in the world. IUCF plans to use the Low Energy Neutron Source (LENS) as a prototype neutron source to be copied in building a national network of local neutron sources across the United States. The low-cost LENS design should also be attractive to small nations interested in developing home-grown neutron-based science or technology with a small capital investment and none of the nuclear waste or weapons proliferation concerns associated with a reactor program.
IUCF is proud to be an integral part of the infrastructure that is developing for research, development and commercialization in the health and related manufacturing industries in Indiana.
