A comprehensive description of all single-particle properties associated with the nucleus can be generated by employing the so-called “Optical Potentials.” The non-local version of the optical potential is capable of simultaneously reproducing all relevant data above and below the Fermi energy by linking the nuclear structure and nuclear reactions. In order to incorporate more realistic time dependent correlations into the formalism, and ultimately study nuclear collisions, more involved theories such as “Non-equilibrium Green’s function” (NEG) method could be investigated. I will go over several challenges and questions in the field of nuclear physics (both experimental and theoretical), also briefly introduce you to the Facility For Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB) at Michigan State University.