The 12 most ambitious international science projects

Researchers whose work has advanced the top priorities of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory were recognized by Universities Research Association during the 59^th Fermilab Users and Affiliates Meeting on July 24.

The annual URA Honorary Awards recognize outstanding scientific and engineering contributions to Fermilab and its mission of driving pioneering scientific discovery. URA is a consortium of more than 90 universities in the United States and abroad and is a core partner of the Fermi Forward Discovery Group, the team responsible for the management and operation of Fermilab.

“The URA Honorary Awards recognize the scientists, engineers and technical leaders whose ingenuity continues to advance Fermilab’s scientific mission,” said John Mester, president and CEO of Universities Research Association. “Their achievements strengthen the laboratory’s scientific capabilities today and lay the foundation for the discoveries of tomorrow.”

Award recipients reflect Fermilab’s scientific mission

“Fermilab’s success depends on exceptional people tackling some of the world’s most ambitious scientific and technical challenges,” said Patricia McBride, Fermilab deputy director for science and chief research officer. “The accomplishments recognized by URA demonstrate the innovation and technical excellence that are helping us deliver on our science today while building the capabilities that will define the future of particle physics.”

Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory’s reputation as America’s particle physics laboratory is based on groundbreaking experiments, powerful particle accelerators and advanced technologies, all pushing the boundaries of discovery. Helping to guide those efforts and chart the path for Fermilab’s future is the lab’s scientific leadership team.  

Earlier this year, Fermilab underwent a reorganization that established three science-focused directorates — the Accelerator Directorate, the Physics Directorate and the Technology Directorate led, respectively, by Associate Laboratory Directors Alexander Valishev, Doug Glenzinski and Anna Grassellino.

Together, the three organizations oversee the laboratory’s accelerator complex, scientific research programs and technology development that are core to Fermilab achieving its top priorities. This collaborative approach reflects Fermilab’s broader vision of delivering world-leading science through disciplined execution — safely, efficiently and in partnership with the global scientific community.

“The three mission directorates are united to achieve Fermilab’s highest priority, which is the delivery of beam to the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment at the Long-Baseline Neutrino Facility by 2031,” Valishev said. “Each has a significant, well-defined area of responsibility in this common goal. The Accelerator Directorate is focused on the delivery of primary proton beam to the LBNF target. The Physics Directorate is working on particle detectors. The Technology Directorate is tasked with producing state-of-the-art accelerator and detector components. Collaboration is key to achieving the top priority, and we share knowledge and resources amongst ourselves and within the lab broadly.”

Three directorates, one team

Valishev, who holds a doctorate in physics from the Budker Institute of Nuclear Physics in Russia, has been with Fermilab for more than two decades. He began his career at Fermilab as a guest scientist in 2003 and has held a series of increasing leadership roles in the laboratory’s accelerator organization.

As head of the Accelerator Directorate, Valishev leads a team responsible for operating and enhancing the Fermilab Accelerator Complex. They deliver particle beams for researchers while maintaining and modernizing one of the world’s most sophisticated accelerator facilities. His long-term vision is an accelerator complex capable of reliably delivering megawatt-class proton beams for DUNE — protons that will be converted into neutrinos at the end of the beamline — while expanding its capabilities to support future particle physics, accelerator science and emerging applications such as fusion research.

“Our core responsibility is delivering particle beams for researchers. But we also have to continue innovating so the accelerator complex can support the science of tomorrow.”

“Our core responsibility is delivering particle beams for researchers,” Valishev said. “But we also have to continue innovating so the accelerator complex can support the science of tomorrow.”

Glenzinski leads the Physics Directorate, home to Fermilab’s particle physics research. The directorate oversees experimental programs spanning the cosmic, energy and neutrino frontiers. Holding a doctorate in physics from Johns Hopkins University, he began his career at Fermilab as a Wilson Fellow in 1999. Since then, Glenzinski has held an array of leadership roles at Fermilab, including deputy chief research officer, chief project officer and co-spokesperson for the Mu2e experiment, which is designed to probe for new physics through observing muons converting directly into electrons with no accompanying neutrinos.

“I see the mission of the Physics Directorate as conceiving, designing, building and operating experimental facilities to accomplish world-class science together with our collaborators and international partners,” Glenzinski said. “It’s everything from conceptualizing new experiments to choosing the experiments that are the most promising and executing them.”

“I see the mission of the Physics Directorate as conceiving, designing, building and operating experimental facilities to accomplish world-class science together with our collaborators and international partners.”

Glenzinski’s directorate is also home to Fermilab’s theory division. “We have a world-class theory group that plays an important role in understanding the underlying science and tying together the broader physics community around the new ideas that inspire future experiments,” he said.

Grassellino, who also holds the positions at Fermilab of chief technology officer and director of the Superconducting Quantum Materials and Systems Center, heads the Technology Directorate. This directorate is central to Fermilab’s priority of advancing technology and innovation for the benefit of science and society. Grassellino has been with Fermilab since 2014 and has served in various leadership and management roles for projects and programs at the lab and currently serves on the DOE Office of Science Advisory Committee, chairing its quantum subcommittee. She holds a doctorate in physics from the University of Pennsylvania.

“The Technology Directorate is about pushing the boundaries of what is technologically possible so that we can push the boundaries of science.”

Grassellino’s directorate brings together Fermilab’s expertise in superconducting technologies, cryogenics, quantum information science, artificial intelligence, material science, microelectronics, fabrication, and SRF and magnet accelerator technologies. This consolidation has unified Fermilab’s technology portfolio under a single strategic vision and positions the laboratory for leadership in DOE priorities, including the department’s flagship AI initiative, the Genesis Mission.

“The Technology Directorate is about pushing the boundaries of what is technologically possible so that we can push the boundaries of science,” Grassellino said. “Many of the discoveries we aspire to make require capabilities that simply do not exist yet. Our role is to invent them and advance them beyond today’s state of the art. In that sense, technology is not only an enabler of the scientific frontier; it is a scientific frontier in its own right. And when we push those boundaries, we create new possibilities for discovery at Fermilab and new capabilities that can benefit science and society far beyond particle physics.”

Creating momentum

With the new leadership structure in place, each associate laboratory director has established clear goals to achieve by the end of this year.

Grassellino’s priorities center on delivering technologies essential to Fermilab’s flagship projects while demonstrating how AI and quantum can transform scientific discovery. In her role of chief technology officer, Grassellino is overseeing the laboratory-wide AI initiatives spanning neutrino science, particle physics, quantum science, and operations, while also expanding technology transfer and commercialization efforts to move laboratory technologies into broader scientific, industrial and commercial applications.

Rather than pursuing dozens of initiatives simultaneously, Grassellino wants the directorate to demonstrate measurable progress on a focused set of ambitious goals and science questions. “I would like us to set clear goals and achieve them,” she said. “If we can execute exceptionally well on a few transformative objectives, we’ll create momentum for everything that follows.”

Inside the particle accelerators that power modern high-energy physics research, timing is everything. A fraction of a second off, and the delicate rhythm that keeps subatomic particles racing through an accelerator can slip out of tune. Now a Fermilab-led team will leverage artificial intelligence to protect that rhythm. Their project, selected for the Department of Energy’s Genesis Mission, is poised to reshape how accelerators are controlled, optimized and operated.

The most powerful modern particle accelerators use superconducting radio-frequency, or SRF, cavities to transfer energy to particle beams. By creating strong electromagnetic fields and leveraging a phenomenon called resonance, they give gentle nudges at exactly the right times to charged subatomic particles — much like a playground swing given repeated, well-timed pushes to send it higher.

As the effects of these nudges accumulate, the particles in an accelerator are pushed faster and faster — close to the speed of light — until they collide with other particles traveling in the opposite direction or with a fixed target. The data from these collisions enables scientists to investigate and understand the underlying principles governing our universe.

“Controlling resonance is a critical area of development for particle accelerator facilities, potentially saving millions of dollars a year on operating costs, optimizing power consumption and improving beam stability for accurate scientific results and increasing equipment lifetimes.”

While SRF cavities are extremely efficient resonators, several factors can stand in the way of perfect performance. They can be knocked off frequency by pressure variations in the liquid helium that cools them, changes in their electromagnetic fields, or vibrations from other nearby equipment. These disturbances interfere with resonance, wasting power and potentially tripping off the particle beam. Precise resonance control increases available power, resulting in higher particle beam performance and new discoveries. 

“Controlling resonance is a critical area of development for particle accelerator facilities, potentially saving millions of dollars a year on operating costs, optimizing power consumption and improving beam stability for accurate scientific results and increasing equipment lifetimes,” said Matthias Liepe, a professor at Cornell University who is collaborating on this research. “Applying AI and machine learning to automate control processes will make this easier.”

“Today, the lab is at the forefront of an exciting new era to use AI and machine learning to extend our scientific reach even further by improving resonance control in next-generation accelerators and accelerating the time to discovery. We’re excited to take this next step,” Posen added.

Staying in tune

To make energy transfer to the beam as efficient as possible, each cavity is tuned to a specific frequency called a resonant frequency. Matching the cavity’s resonant frequency to the delivery of radio-frequency energy allows a relatively small amount of input power to build up large amplitude fields.

“While SRF cavities are incredibly efficient at speeding up particles using low power, shifts away from their correct frequencies consume power that could be better spent pushing the particle beam harder and furthering the discovery potential,” said Liepe.

“Today, the lab is at the forefront of an exciting new era to use AI and machine learning to extend our scientific reach even further by improving resonance control in next-generation accelerators and accelerating the time to discovery.”

Scientists use a fast-moving tuner attached to the cavity to squeeze it back to its resonant frequency. Applying AI and machine learning has the potential to significantly improve tuning precision, and the algorithms and models learn over time how to minimize disturbances and adapt as conditions change. AI can also tailor this learning and adaptation to each of the 100-plus cavities that a large accelerator contains. This can allow researchers to push the operation of particle accelerators, increasing maximum energy or letting them turn down the power between beam pulses.

Current and future SRF-based particle accelerators, like Fermilab’s Proton Improvement Plan-II linear accelerator, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory’s Linac Coherent Light Source-SC, Brookhaven National Laboratory’s Electron-Ion Collider, Michigan State University’s Facility for Rare Isotope Beams and Argonne National Laboratory’s Argonne Tandem Linac Accelerator System, or ATLAS, use SRF cavities to harness electromagnetic energy fed in from an outside source.

Increasing precision

One beneficiary of this research is the PIP-II accelerator, which will provide the world’s most intense neutrino beam for the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment at the Long-Baseline Neutrino Facility, an international collaboration hosted by Fermilab.

During its initial operation, PIP-II’s particle beam will be sent as pulses, but the cavities are designed to operate at full electromagnetic field strength between pulses. Reducing the field between pulses would significantly reduce average power, cooling costs and equipment wear, but it would also make resonance control harder because of the frequency shifts as the cavity field is turned up and down.

A key objective of this research is to test whether introducing AI to PIP-II’s existing control equipment will provide enough precision to operate in pulsed mode — handling the cavity’s frequency shifts, using less power and avoiding unplanned shutdowns known as trips.

Creating a common framework

In addition to cost savings and increased performance and reliability, this research aims to achieve other important objectives. One of these is to establish a common framework for resonance control data that can be shared across DOE laboratories and facilities and their partners.

Enabling data sharing from different SRF-based accelerators can benefit the broader Genesis Mission research community. Today, every facility measures detuning in its own way, so the data can’t be pooled, and a controller built for one machine may not work on the next.

“That is what we want to show the Genesis Mission community: better and lower-cost operation of SRF cavities, but also how AI can close fast control loops on real hardware.”

“The open-source low-level radio-frequency control system Berkeley Lab developed is the baseline for PIP-II and runs the cavities at the SLAC Accelerator Center’s LCLS-II, said scientist Dan Wang, the project institutional lead from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory who also leads a related hardware-aware AI project. “The control system is used more widely still on conventional accelerators that do not rely on superconducting materials, such as the Argonne Wakefield Accelerator and our own Advanced Light Source.”

“An AI layer built on that platform benefits every facility running it,” added Wang. “That is what we want to show the Genesis Mission community: better and lower-cost operation of SRF cavities, but also how AI can close fast control loops on real hardware. It is the right demonstration, and with all the labs working on it together, the right moment.”

Benefiting society

Another objective is to build a workforce pipeline at the intersection of AI/machine learning and low-level radio-frequency engineering. This will help train the scientists, engineers and technicians to design and operate the precise control electronics used in particle accelerators — a highly specialized field that is currently facing a talent shortage.

By collaborating with industry partners, innovations can be applied in ways that directly benefit society and the U.S. economy. For example, industry partner xLight has developed a free-electron laser system, using particle accelerator technology pioneered at DOE national laboratories, to transform semiconductor manufacturing.

“This research exemplifies the Genesis Mission goal to use AI to dramatically improve our scientific tools so that we can innovate better, faster and more efficiently.”

“This research exemplifies the Genesis Mission goal to use AI to dramatically improve our scientific tools so that we can innovate better, faster and more efficiently,” said Anna Grassellino, chief technology officer and associate laboratory director for the Technology Directorate at Fermilab. “By collaborating with other national labs, universities and industry, we are fostering innovation and developing a skilled workforce at the intersection of AI and science and engineering. This research will cement the role of the United States as a world leader in particle accelerator technology as we build more powerful, more sophisticated, more reliable and more autonomous accelerators.”

Along with Fermilab, partnering institutions on this project include Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Argonne National Laboratory, Cornell University, Michigan State University, Toyota Technological Institute at Chicago, University of Michigan, the High Energy Accelerator Research Organization in Japan and xLight Inc.