Supports research at the frontiers of nuclear science, including: properties and behavior of nuclei and nuclear matter under extreme conditions, and/or as they relate to astrophysical phenomena;  the quark-gluon basis for the structure and dynamics of nuclear matter; phase transitions of nuclear matter from normal nuclear density and temperature to the predicted high-temperature quark-gluon plasma; and basic interactions and fundamental symmetries.  This research involves many venues, including low-energy to multi-GeV electrons and photons; intermediate-energy light ions; low-energy to relativistic heavy ions, including radioactive beams; cold and ultra-cold neutrons; as well as non-accelerator-based experiments.

The program supports university user groups executing experiments at a large number of laboratories in the United States and abroad, and a national user facility: the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory, a superconducting, heavy-ion cyclotron facility at Michigan State University. The program also supports smaller accelerator facilities, such as those at Florida State University and the University of Notre Dame.