Frib Dedicated at MSU

Local officials and others gathering in East Lansing Friday, celebrating as work on Frib gets underway at MSU.

Senator Carl Levin spoke about the new facility for rare isotope beams Friday which will bring hundreds of jobs right here to Mid-Michigan, he says as work on the facilty gets underway our area has a lot to be proud of.

"This is a special moment, its a further step on a road to a major improvement for not just Michigan State, the State of Michigan and the nation but truely for mankind itself," says Levin.

Researchers say Frib will allow them to do experiments never before possible.

There are only three labs like it in the world.

At a dedication ceremony held Friday for the new Frib project, state and university leaders say the the facility will generate millions of dollars for Michigan.

The Anderson Economic Group recently performed a study of the potential economic impact that Frib would bring to Michigan and the numbers speak for themselves.

Frib is finally making its way to the crib and with it nearly one billion dollars in economic activity.

"More jobs, more jobs, more research and more education opportunities," says Senator Debbie Stabenow.

MSU President Louanna K. Simon says Frib is expected to bring in around 400 new jobs for the State of Michigan.

"Its a half billion dollar project that will require lots of people to build things to make things just in the phase of getting the project ready to go and that will create jobs," says Michigan State University President Lou Anna K. Simon.

And Simon says the increased budget for the Cyclotron lab will bring a boost to the state as well.

"The operating budget of the lab moves from about 20 million dollars to about 60 million dollars a year so think about the multiplyers that that mean in terms of all of the other kinds of jobs in terms of traditional economics," says Simon.

And while the economic impact is important, Senator Stabenow says shes also excited about the research that will be done here in Michigan.

"Those to come, those students that will be signing up for MSU will come here will be the ones of the future that are creating the discoveries that we cant even imagine," says Stabenow.

Simon says that with all the new opportunities Frib will bring to Michigan its clear why the the Anderson economic groups is calling it a home run for MSU, in a league they rarly even get to bat in.

The project is currently in the the design stages with construction expected to begin in 2013.