In addition to pursuing existing programs at RHIC, ALICE, and JLab, the RNC has been involved in the development of the physics case and detector design for the future Electron-Ion Collider (EIC). This is planned to be the next new nuclear physics facility built in the US and brings together both physics and detector technologies from the heavy-ion and hadronic physics communities. We have been involved in evaluating several important physics channels, developing the needs for tracking and far-forward detector systems, and have played several leadership roles at all stages of the project’s development. We were a founding member of the silicon consortium that developed a tracking/vertexing system based on the ITS3 sensors being developed at CERN, and look to play a significant role in building this system for the ePIC collaboration.

While the EIC is a primary focus of our program, RNC scientists are engaged in EIC-synergic future opportunities at the LHC. Members of the RNC are contributing to the development of the physics program and the detector design for the proposed Forward Calorimeter (FoCal) for ALICE that will enable the study of nucleon and nuclei structure at unprecedented small scales of momentum distribution of partons. Moreover, we are engaging in the design of the future ALICE 3 experiment at CERN that will take full advantage of the high-luminosity LHC runs in 2030’s. Also in these activities we draw from the experience and knowledge of the current ALICE setup, the future silicon trackers design (e.g. ITS3 in ALICE), and the work on the design of EPIC detector at the EIC.