SkAI Institute will develop AI tools and accelerate astronomy’s data-driven revolution
New institute will unite multidisciplinary researchers to develop innovative, trustworthy AI tools for astronomy. Credit: Bettymaya Foott/NSF NRAO/AUI
A large multi-institutional collaboration, 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 (NSF) and the Simons Foundation, the highly competitive grant will establish the NSF-Simons AI Institute for the Sky (SkAI, pronounced “sky”). SkAI is one of two National AI Research Institutes in Astronomy announced today. Northwestern astrophysicist Vicky Kalogera is principal investigator of the grant and will serve as the director of SkAI. Northwestern AI expert Aggelos Katsaggelos is a co-principal investigator of the grant.
The new institute will unite multidisciplinary researchers to develop innovative, trustworthy AI tools for astronomy, which will be used to pursue breakthrough discoveries by analyzing large astronomy datasets, transform physics-based simulations and more. With unprecedentedly large sky surveys poised to launch, including from the Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile, astronomers will require smarter, more efficient tools to accelerate the mining and interpretation of increasingly large datasets. SkAI will fulfill a crucial role in developing and refining these tools.
“I am thrilled to receive this opportunity to work with our amazing cross-disciplinary, multi-institutional team, so we can accelerate the data-driven revolution that wide and deep sky surveys will bring to the field of astronomy,” Kalogera said. “We will transform our astrophysical understanding across an enormous range of scales — from stars and the transients they produce to the evolving galaxies they live in, the black holes they form, and the dark sector of the universe and its cosmological origins.”
Kalogera is the Daniel I. Linzer Distinguished Professor of Physics and Astronomy in the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences and director of Northwestern’s Center for Interdisciplinary Exploration and Research in Astrophysics (CIERA). Katsaggelos is the Joseph Cummings Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the McCormick School of Engineering, co-director of the Center for Scientific Studies in the Arts and has courtesy appointments in computer science and radiology.
“One of Northwestern’s stated priorities is to harness the power of data analytics and artificial intelligence, so I couldn’t be more excited about a partnership so in line with our vision,” Northwestern Provost Kathleen Hagerty said. “Similarly, interdisciplinary innovation is core to the Northwestern ethos. With potential to make a positive impact on our students and faculty, our local community and the global scientific community, this collaboration checks all the boxes.”
Continue to the full Northwestern news article.