A large multi-institutional collaboration, including the University of Chicago and led by Northwestern University, has received a $20 million grant to develop and apply new artificial intelligence (AI) tools to astrophysics research and deep space exploration.
Jointly funded by the National Science Foundation and the Simons Foundation, the highly competitive grant will establish the NSF-Simons AI Institute for the Sky (SkAI). SkAI is one of two National AI Research Institutes in Astronomy announced on Sept. 18.
The new institute will unite researchers from multiple disciplines to develop innovative, trustworthy AI tools for astronomy. These tools will be used to pursue breakthrough discoveries by analyzing large astronomy datasets and transforming physics-based simulations. With unprecedentedly large sky surveys poised to launch, including from the Vera C. Rubin Observatory, astronomers will require smarter, more efficient tools to accelerate data mining and interpretation. SkAI aims to play a crucial role in developing and refining these tools.
“The institute’s overarching goal is to bring together astrophysicists and AI researchers to solve fundamental challenges in astronomy that require critical advances in AI, thereby driving innovation and discovery in both fields,” said UChicago Professor Joshua Frieman, Co-PI and Associate Director of Knowledge Transfer for SkAI. “While AI is increasingly part of our everyday lives, the institute will focus on developing AI tools that are reliable and trustworthy enough to be used for rigorous astronomy research, in the process training a new generation of interdisciplinary leaders.”
In addition to Frieman, UChicago’s SkAI leadership includes Professor Rebecca Willett as Co-PI and Associate Director for Research (AI). Executive Director of the Data Science Institute David Uminsky will serve as Senior Personnel and Co-Lead for Undergraduate Education (Satellite Network) and Broadening Participation. Other PSD faculty members involved include Rina Barber, John Carlstrom, Chihway Chang, Yuxin Chen, Alex Drlica-Wagner, Daniel Holz, Alexander Ji, Harley Katz, Sanjay Krishnan, Michael Maire, Jeff McMahon, Daniel Sanz-Alonso, and Abigail Vieregg.
“The interdisciplinary nature of our team...will be critical to developing bleeding-edge foundational AI methods needed to tackle outstanding problems in astronomical data analysis,” said Willett.
Centrally located in Illinois, SkAI will unite 83 team members from across 25 partner organizations. The institute aims to serve as an inclusive nexus accelerating AI-astronomy research while educating a diverse workforce.
“Illinois is already an international hub of research and technology...I’m pleased to see NSF investing in our state with this new AI Institute for the Sky,” said U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL).
“Artificial intelligence is changing the way we approach our world,” added U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL). “The SkAI Institute allows Illinois to lead exploration into this technology’s possibilities.”
Core partners include Northwestern University; University of Chicago; University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign; National Center for Supercomputing Applications; Argonne National Laboratory; Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory; University of Illinois Chicago; Adler Planetarium; University of Wisconsin-Madison; along with several undergraduate education institutions and industry organizations.
Over the next decade, projects like the Vera C. Rubin Observatory's Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) are expected to generate extensive data sets requiring advanced processing capabilities provided by new AI tools developed at SkAI.
“SkAI will use cutting-edge AI...to help uncover dark energy's nature [and] understand how galaxies formed over cosmic time,” noted Frieman.
New surveys promise transformational advances but also demand unprecedented levels of data processing—a challenge addressed by SkAI's development efforts at the intersection of astronomy and AI.
“Astronomy presents unique challenges at the forefront of AI...Our interdisciplinary efforts will lead to new tools allowing researchers to quantify uncertainties associated with predictions,” said Willett.
Sethuraman Panchanathan from NSF emphasized that “the massive amount of data gathered...is too vast...With reliable AI tools...researchers can gain valuable insights leading to amazing discoveries.”
Beyond scientific discovery goals lies an emphasis on inclusivity within STEM fields through initiatives like SkAI Satellite Network—comprising 16 regional college partners aimed at fostering diverse representation within STEM disciplines through mentoring programs designed for high school and college students alike.
Established in 2020 as part of a broader commitment towards fostering long-term fundamental research within artificial intelligence realms—the other National AI Research Institute being CosmicAI led by UT Austin—SkAI stands poised towards significant contributions both scientifically & socially within its domain areas.
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