Department of Energy

From Science, Oct. 2, 2020: As U.S. particle physicists start to drum up new ideas for the next decade in a yearlong Snowmass process they have no single big project to push for (or against). Physicists have just started to build the current plan’s centerpiece: The Long-Baseline Neutrino Facility at Fermilab will shoot particles through 1,300 kilometers of rock to the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment in South Dakota. Fermilab Deputy Director of Research Joe Lykken and Fermilab scientist Vladimir Shiltsev comment on other possible pursuits in high-energy physics.

Three students have received the prestigious U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science Graduate Student Research Fellowships to conduct their research at Fermilab. They will pursue projects in dark matter detection, superconducting accelerator technology, and the Mu2e and CMS experiments.

From Radiotelevisione Italiana Spa, Sept. 2, 2020: Anna Grassellino, 39 anni, marsalese, è stata incaricata dal governo americano di realizzare al Fermilab di Chicago il calcolatore più veloce di sempre. Il progetto prevede anche iniziative di formazione in Sicilia.

From AIP’s FYI, Sept. 11, 2020: FYI speaks with Department of Energy Office of Science Director Chris Fall about a range of issues bearing on the national lab system, including a new “Labs of the Future” thought exercise, pandemic recovery, diversity initiatives, and research security.

From INFN, Aug. 26, 2020: Il Department of Energy degli Stati Uniti finanzia il Superconducting Quantum Materials and Systems Center, coordinato dal Fermilab di Chicago e guidato dall’italiana Anna Grassellino. L’INFN parteciperà al progetto con il suo know-how scientifico e tecnologico, e grazie al finanziamento realizzerà una facility per dispositivi quantistici
nei suoi Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso.

From Open Access Government, Sept. 10, 2020: DOE Associate Director of Science for High Energy Physics Jim Siegrist charts how future machines will explore new frontiers in particle physics. The DOE Office of Science is working with partners around the globe to realize the next generation of particle physics facilities and experiments, including the international, Fermilab-hosted Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment and its Long-Baseline Neutrino Facility, PIP-II, and LHC experiments, including CMS.

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 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.