Durbin Joins Ribbon Cutting For National Science Foundation Institutes Hosted By Northwestern University
CHICAGO – Today, U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) joined a ribbon cutting ceremony for the National Institute for Theory and Mathematics in Biology (NITMB) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) Simons AI Institute for the Sky (SkAI), two new institutes hosted by Northwestern University with support from NSF and in partnership with the University of Chicago and the University of Illinois.
“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.”
“Today’s ribbon-cutting marks something rare: not one world-class research hub — which would be reason enough to celebrate — but two. Together they promise breakthrough discoveries that will transform their disciplines and, just as importantly, the spaces where disciplines meet. That kind of boundary-crossing collaboration is a Northwestern hallmark, and this downtown home is built to accelerate it. In today’s environment, the questions we face are often too complex for any single lab — or even a single institution — to tackle alone. Interdisciplinary, cross-institutional engagement is how we turn vast datasets into insight, theory into application, and discovery into societal impact,” said Eric Perreault, Vice President for Research at Northwestern University.
“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 the University of Chicago. “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’s innovation ecosystem and the transformative impact of collaboration in tackling the greatest scientific challenges of our time.”
The bipartisan CHIPS and Science Act authorized funding to support scientific institutes, ultimately awarding more than $22 million for NITMB and $10 million for SkAI. The aim of 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.” SkAI will support the intersection of astronomy and artificial intelligence, with a 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.
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