Notes on the Phoenix Project

I was fascinated to read the history of the Michigan Memorial–Phoenix Project by Joseph Martin (Physics Today, February 2016, page 40 ). What an inspired approach, to canvas alumni and students for ideas for the project and to solicit support from industry rather than the federal government! Thanks for a thoroughly interesting article. As an immigrant who received a Phoenix Project fellowship funded by Owens Corning, I am fortunate to be a beneficiary of that whole approach. My PhD thesis research was conducted in the nuclear engineering department at the University of Michigan; under the demanding eye of John King, I worked on the Ford Nuclear Reactor, which had been donated by the Ford Motor Co.

During the summers, Ford also supported my work with two of the best mentors a student could wish for: Sam Werner and Anthony Arrott at the Ford Scientific Laboratory. King, Werner, and Arrott taught me all the physics I know, but more importantly, they taught me to be unrelenting in adhering to the highest standards of honesty, accuracy, and integrity in conducting and reporting research. I owe them for the thorough grounding that paved the way for my long and rewarding career, most of it spent at Science Applications International Corp (SAIC) with other graduates from the University of Michigan.

I have two additions to the Phoenix Project history. First, closing the Ford Nuclear Reactor ended an era of continuous and outstanding research. Sadly, the reactor’s demise did not get the benefit of the consultation with students or alumni—or even apparently with Ford as the donor—that characterized the birth of the Michigan Memorial–Phoenix Project. Moreover, it closed even though the US Department of Energy had reportedly committed the necessary funding to continue its operation.

Second, the project’s building on the North Campus was recently given a new life thanks to a $15 million gift from John Robert Beyster, a graduate of the University of Michigan’s physics department who later founded SAIC.