Breaking Ground and Driving Discovery

Fermilab

Dr. Bill Brinkman, Director of the Office of Science, joined Illinois Governor Pat Quinn and other dignitaries in celebrating the groundbreaking of the Illinois Accelerator Research Center (IARC).

The 42,000 square foot state-of-the art facility, located at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab), will drive research and development in particle accelerator technology. It will foster job creation in Illinois. And it will serve as a focus of science and engineering efforts across the area, providing space to researchers at Fermilab and Argonne National Lab, as well as local universities and industrial partners.

Research at the IARC is likely to have a real and profound impact on America's prosperity and global competitiveness. About 30,000 accelerators are already at work around the world in industry, medicine, security, defense and science. All the products that are processed, treated or inspected by particle beams have an estimated annual value of more than $500 billion.

"The IARC facility will help fuel innovation by developing advanced technologies, strengthening ties with industry and training the scientists of tomorrow," said Director Brinkman, "The Department of Energy welcomes the opportunity to partner with the State of Illinois and looks forward to seeing IARC come to fruition."

For more information on the groundbreaking, please go to: http://energy.gov/articles/ground-broken-new-job-creating-accelerator-research-facility-doe-s-fermi-national. And for more information on the IARC, please go to: http://www.fnal.gov/pub/iarc/.