Lou Anna K. Simon: Unrelenting president of MSU had vision in landing $550-million U.S. isotope facility

When the U.S. Department of Energy sought a location to house a new state-of-the-art nuclear science facility, it seemed natural the project would land at one of the department's own prestigious national laboratories.

However, Michigan State University President Lou Anna K. Simon believed her university was the best place in the nation for rare isotope research. Although MSU hadn't managed a federal project of this scale, Simon "swung for the fences" and orchestrated a powerful and persuasive team to compete for the $550-million Facility for Rare Isotope Beams.

"We had the assets," Simon says. "We were able to align the team ... and we were able to take an attitude into the competition that we were confident and well-prepared on every detail."

In December, the Energy Department announced the facility would be built at MSU's National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory. The landmark decision was a huge boost for nuclear science and the state. It's poised to generate $1 billion in economic activity and 400 new jobs.

Perhaps most surprising to Simon was how the victory served as a psychological boost for Michiganians at a time when the state's unemployment was highest in the nation and the Detroit auto industry was being battered by Congress.

"There are people who don't know an isotope from a football who feel really good about this," Simon says. "That's not being negative to them. It's just that they're really excited about it because it puts the state in a different league. Having these big national laboratories is one of those tangible symbols that the state can compete."

Construction on the facility should begin in 2013, and it should be fully operating within a decade. The heart of the facility will be a high-intensity linear accelerator that is 1,000 times more powerful than existing accelerators at nuclear science facilities in the nation. The accelerator will be built underground next to the existing National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory.

Simon, who was named the university's first female president in 2005 after serving as provost for 11 years, is humble about her role in landing the project. She praises everyone from the Michigan Congressional delegation and MSU scientists to students and lab operators. "You have to give this one to the team," she says.

However, those who have worked with Simon believe without her leadership the outcome could have been very different.

"She has been relentless in going after this, and by all accounts they shouldn't have gotten it," says Doug Rothwell, president of Detroit Renaissance, an executive leadership organization made up of prominent CEOs in southeast Michigan and a board on which Simon enthusiastically sits. "She just wouldn't let it go, and that's solely due to her leadership."

Konrad Gelbke, director of MSU's cyclotron lab, says Simon has been a strong supporter of nuclear science ever since she was provost. "She shows a level of commitment and knowledge about the science programs at Michigan State University that very few presidents could demonstrate," he says.

Marisa Schultz / The Detroit News