A ribbon-cutting ceremony marked the Aug. 27 opening of two new science research institutes in which the University of Chicago is a partner: the National Institute for Theory and Mathematics in Biology and the National Science Foundation Simons AI Institute for the Sky (SkAI).
Research from the new institutes, with support from the National Science Foundation, will produce critical innovations and expand scientific understanding of mathematics, biology, astrophysics and artificial intelligence, among other fields.
The aim of the new National Institute for Theory and Mathematics in Biology, or NITMB, is to create a nationwide research community focused on the intersection of math and biology, which is often described as the pursuit of the “rules of life.” Co-hosted by Northwestern University and UChicago, the center seeks to develop and use mathematics and statistics to investigate some of the most important fundamental questions in the life sciences.
The new National Science Foundation Simons AI Institute for the Sky, or SkAI, will support the intersection of astronomy and artificial intelligence. It will focus on developing open-source AI tools that astronomers and astrophysicists can use to accelerate research into the vast quantities of data provided by powerful telescopes around the world.
The institute is a partnership between UChicago, Northwestern and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; UChicago affiliates Argonne National Laboratory, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory and the Toyota Technological Institute are also among the SkAI partners.
“Breakthroughs in science don’t happen in isolation—they emerge when researchers unite across disciplines, institutions and sectors,” said Erin J. Adams, vice provost for research and the Joseph Regenstein Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and in the College at UChicago. “We are proud to partner with Argonne, Fermilab, industry leaders and peer universities to accelerate discovery and train the next generation of innovators. Initiatives like SkAI and NITMB showcase the strength of Illinois’ innovation ecosystem and the transformative impact of collaboration in tackling the greatest scientific challenges of our time.”
“Today’s ribbon cutting is an example of the incredible things we can achieve when Illinois’ outstanding universities and the federal government come together, especially at a time when funding for scientific research is under attack,” said Durbin. “Alongside the NSF and Simons Foundation, the National Institute for Theory and Mathematics in Biology and SkAI will contribute to the next generation of discovery, and our state will continue to lead the way in the industries of the future.”
