Heavy ion physics seeks to study matter in the hottest and densest state experimentally obtainable.  This is achieved by the collision of heavy ions (e.g. Au and Pb) at ultra-relativistic energies.  The modern era of heavy ion collision physics began in the year 2000 at the RHIC collider facility and continued into a second genaration with energies an order of magnitude higher at the LHC in 2010.  In the subsequent years of experiments the observed data has shed new light on questions in nuclear physics, quantum chromodynamics, and quantum electrodynamics.  We will soon be increasing our efforts in this field of study as part of the ATLAS collaboration at the LHC.  This will entail both analysis using the existing detectors as well as construction of detector upgrades.  The exciting new results of the past few years as well as our plans to participate in further advances will be presented.