Status of Electron Ion Collider designs and R&D

A U.S.-based Electron-Ion Collider (EIC) has recently been endorsed by the U.S. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NAS). This brings the realization of such a collider another step closer, after its earlier recommendation in the 2015 Long-Range Plan for U.S. nuclear science of the Nuclear Science Advisory Committee ``as the highest priority for new facility construction following the completion of FRIB''. Moreover a CD0 is expected to be announced by DOE in 2019. An EIC will be an unprecedented collider that will need to maintain high luminosity (1E33-1E34 cm-2 s-1) over a very wide range of Center-of- Mass energies (~20 GeV to ~100 GeV, upgradable to ~140 GeV), while accommodating highly polarized beams and many different ion species. A multi-laboratory collaboration is presently working on two site-specific EIC designs - eRHIC led by Brookhaven National Laboratory and JLEIC led by Jefferson Lab. The present talk will summarize the status of Electron Ion Collider designs and R&D.