William G Lynch

William G Lynch is a Professor in the Department of Physics & Astronomy at Michigan State University, with joint appointments at the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory (NSCL) and the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB). His research focuses on understanding nuclear collisions and their implications for nuclear matter and neutron stars.

His educational background includes:

• Bachelor of Arts in Physics from the University of Colorado
• Ph.D. in Nuclear Physics from the University of Washington, Seattle

Professor Lynch's research primarily investigates the nuclear equation of state, with special emphasis on the symmetry energy that governs how nuclear matter behaves as it becomes increasingly neutron-rich. His work connects laboratory measurements of nuclear collisions to the properties of neutron stars, where matter can be up to 95% neutrons in some regions. A significant portion of his research involves using heavy-ion collisions to constrain the density dependence of the symmetry energy, which has implications for understanding whether matter in neutron star interiors collapses under gravitational attraction. His experimental program employs advanced detector systems including the SπRIT Time Projection Chamber, Active Target Time Projection Chamber (ATTPC), and other specialized equipment to probe nuclear matter at densities ranging from 0.25 to 1.5 times the saturation density of nuclear matter.

His scientific contributions have been recognized with numerous awards:

• NSF Presidential Young Investigator Award (1985)
• Fellow of the American Physical Society (1997)
• Physical Review and Physical Review Letters Outstanding Referee (2011)
• College of Natural Science CNS Distinguished Faculty Award (2011)
• Michigan State University Distinguished Faculty Award (2012)
• Tom Osgood award for graduate instruction (2012)

Professor Lynch actively mentors students who play leading roles in developing experimental devices and in the interpretation and theoretical modeling of data. His research group has developed several major experimental devices including the Heist (Heavy beam tagger), SπRIT TPC, ATTPC, HiRA, LASSA, and Miniball. These devices support a research program focused on constraining the symmetry energy of nuclear matter and measuring light ion induced fission of rare isotope nuclei. His recent publications (2021-2025) show continued productivity with work on proton-decaying states, machine learning applications for event classification, symmetry energy constraints, and neutron star equation of state determinations.