The Joint Institute for Nuclear Astrophysics - Center for the Evolution of the Elements (JINA-CEE) is a multi-institutional NSF Physics Frontiers Center. Our research addresses fundamental questions about the evolution and properties of matter in the cosmos, and the origin of the chemical elements that makeup our world, as Carl Sagan aptly summarized: "we are made of star stuff". Understanding the origin and evolution of matter requires to study detailed features of atomic nuclei and connect them with observations of stars and stellar explosions. JINA-CEE consists of a unique network of four core institutions (Michigan State University, Notre Dame University, Arizona State University, and University of Washington) and 22 associated institutions in seven countries. JINA-CEE brings together nuclear experimentalists, nuclear theorists, astronomers, theoretical astrophysicists, and computational physicists in a unique cross-disciplinary research network that enables rapid communication and coordination across field boundaries and connects research at new accelerator facilities, observatories, and model codes in new ways. JINA fosters interdisciplinary collaborations, workshops, research programs, and educational initiatives at its participating institutions as well as within the field of nuclear astrophysics at large. We invite the scientific community - astrophysicists and nuclear physicists - theorists and experimentalists - in the US and world wide to actively participate in this endeavor to advance science and make this project a useful resource for the field of nuclear astrophysics.