Sensors for the world’s largest digital camera have snapped their first 3,200-megapixel images at SLAC. Crews at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory took the photo with an extraordinary array of imaging sensors that will become the heart and soul of the future camera of Vera C. Rubin Observatory.

From FedScoop, Aug. 26, 2020: The White House plans to establish seven Artificial Intelligence Research Institutes and five Quantum Information Science Research Centers with more than $1 billion in awards during the next five years. Fermilab is among the national laboratories that will serve as Quantum Information Science Research Center leads, combining its particle physics expertise with partners’ strengths in materials, computing and superconductivity science and technology to advance quantum technologies.

From The Center Square, Aug. 26, 2020: Illinois has been chosen to host two of the five new National Quantum Information Science Research Centers. The projects are led by Fermilab and Argonne. Each project will receive $115 million in federal funding. The centers are intended to foster breakthroughs in quantum information science and related technology as part of the National Quantum Initiative.

From CNET, Aug. 26, 2020: The Department of Energy’s five quantum computing centers, housed at US national laboratories, are funded by a five year, $625 million project bolstered by $340 million worth of help from companies. The five centers will be at Fermi, Argonne, Brookhaven, Lawrence Berkeley and Oak Ridge national labs.

From Crain’s Chicago Business, Aug. 26, 2020: A pair of big-money federal research grants give Chicago a ground-floor opportunity in a field many expect to transform computing. Fermilab and Argonne are among five national laboratories that will get $115 million apiece to study quantum computing.

From WTTW, Sept. 1, 2020: Chicago appears to be at the center of a quantum acceleration, with the Department of Energy announcing that two of five new national quantum research centers will be in the Chicago area – at Fermilab and Argonne. Each will receive $115 million over the next five years to further their research. Watch Superconducting Quantum Materials and Systems Center Director Anna Grassellino in this 6-minute television segment.

From University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Aug. 26, 2020: The Grainger College of Engineering’s Illinois Quantum Information Science and Technology Center is a partner institution in two of the five Department of Energy Quantum Information Science Research Centers, announced by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy on August 26.
The two centers, Fermilab-based Superconducting Quantum Materials and Systems Center and Argonne-based Q-NEXT will be each be funded at $115 million over five years.

From Ames Laboratory, Aug. 26, 2020: Ames Laboratory is a key partner in the Superconducting Quantum Materials and Systems Center, led by Fermilab and part of the DOE Quantum Science Initiative announced by the White House. Fermilab has been awarded $115 million over five years for a National Quantum Information Science Research Center to build a revolutionary quantum computer prototype.

From Nextgov, Aug. 26, 2020: Department of Energy Undersecretary Paul Dabbar discusses how, through quantum computers, humanity will tackle some of the world’s greatest challenges. DOE has established five new quantum information science centers at its national labs with funding of over $965 million, including $625 million in authorized funding from the DOE over five years, and over $340 million from the center participants.

While we’ve known about neutron stars for the better part of a century, astrophysicists still aren’t entirely sure how large they are. That uncertainty is related to two other unanswered questions: What’s in the middle of neutron stars, and how massive can they grow? Astrophysicists are combining multiple methods to reveal the secrets of some of the weirdest objects in the universe.