In the news

The Chicago Plan Commission approved plans to transform a former steel mill site into a cutting-edge quantum computing park known as the Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park. PsiQuantum will construct the large facility, aiming to develop a one-million-qubit utility-scale quantum computer. The park will be affiliated with the University of Illinois but will also have partners including Fermilab, Argonne, the Chicago Quantum Exchange and many Chicago universities.

The Chicago Plan Commission approved plans for a quantum computing research park on the vacant U.S. Steel South Works site, advancing a project that could transform Chicago’s South Side into a national technology hub. The park will be managed by a University of Illinois-led organization in partnership with Argonne National Laboratory, Fermilab and other regional institutions.

Senator John Thune of South Dakota has worked for decades to help convert an abandoned gold mine in South Dakota into the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment.

In the quest to understand the fundamental forces that govern our universe, the Standard Model of particle physics has long stood as the cornerstone. Recent experimental discrepancies like those from Fermilab’s Muon g-2 experiment, have stirred the physics community, suggesting that the muon’s behavior under magnetic fields might not fully align with Standard Model prediction.

DOE announced nearly $150 million in funding for dozens of energy conservation and clean energy projects at federal facilities, including Argonne and Fermilab. The funds will support the Fermilab Resilience and Efficiency Project, an initiative that works toward achieving net-zero facilities at the lab by implementing energy conservation measures across 23 buildings and developing renewable energy generation.

Why hasn’t matter fallen apart over billions of years? The mystery might start with protons. Scientists continue to conduct experiments that have yet detected proton decay but discovering it would reveal new insights into the fundamental laws of nature.

The U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science recently awarded the contract to manage and operate Fermilab to a consortium named Fermi Forward Discovery Group, LLC. It includes Amentum, a market leader in energy and environmental engineering solutions. Amentum has extensive experience in managing complex scientific facilities.

Journalists were recently invited to tour JUNO, a $300 million science facility designed to measure neutrinos. The U.S.-based DUNE project will also measure neutrinos. If JUNO explains the story of neutrino masses before DUNE comes online, the Fermilab-led project would then be able to measure the question differently and confirm JUNO’s results.

A team at Fermilab have built a prototype of a superconducting cryomodule for the Proton Improvement Plan II (PIP-II) project. The cryomodules will comprise the last section of the new linear accelerator, or linac, that will drive Fermilab’s new accelerator complex.

Dr. Shirley Ann Jackson, a theoretical physicist who made significant advancements in telecommunications, began her career at Fermilab after graduating from MIT.