Chicago State University is a public university on Chicago's South Side.

Southern Illinois University Carbondale is a public research university in Carbondale, Illinois.

Evanston IL. Top-20 engineering school. NSF engineering research center grant $26M (2024). Institute for Sustainability and Energy at Northwestern (ISEN). Center for Quantum Devices. Querrey Simpson Institute for Bioelectronics. Strong interdisciplinary research with Feinberg Medicine.

Chicago IL. World's top business school. 9 Nobel laureates in economics. Home of behavioral economics (Richard Thaler, 2017 Nobel). Chicago School of Economics birthplace — Milton Friedman, George Stigler, Gary Becker. Houses Polsky Center for entrepreneurship + Duality quantum accelerator. New: Master in Finance + Master in Management programs (2024). $60M gift from Clifford Asness and John Liew (2024). Global campuses: London, Hong Kong, Singapore, Delhi.

Chicago IL. UChicago-headquartered quantum hub. Connects Argonne NL, Fermilab, UChicago, UIUC, Northwestern, UWisconsin-Madison + 40+ industry partners (IBM, Google, Intel, Boeing). Recipient of billions in government + corporate investment. Two DOE National Quantum Information Science Research Centers: Q-NEXT (Argonne-led) and SQMS (Fermilab-led). One of longest ground-based quantum communication channels in US. Duality accelerator — first US quantum-only startup accelerator.

DePaul University is a private Catholic university in Chicago, Illinois, and the largest Catholic university in the US by enrollment.

Eastern Illinois University is a public university in Charleston, Illinois.

Illinois State University is a public university in Normal, Illinois.

Urbana-Champaign IL. UIUC's primary quantum research hub. Part of DOE Q-NEXT National Quantum Information Science Research Center (with Argonne NL). Partners: IBM, Google, Boeing. Open Quantum Initiative (OQI) undergraduate fellowship. Works with Chicago Quantum Exchange. Quantum science and engineering PhD program through PME/UChicago partnership.

Loyola University Chicago is a private Jesuit research university in Chicago, Illinois.

Urbana-Champaign IL. Founded 1985 after NSF responded to Larry Smarr's critique of US supercomputing. Released NCSA Mosaic (1993) — first graphical web browser, launched the commercial internet. NCSA Telnet (1986). Center for AI Innovation (CAII). Partners: NASA, IBM, US government. Delta supercomputer — NSF-funded. eDream Institute for interdisciplinary arts+computing research. Fiddler Innovation Fellowship program for student research.

Northern Illinois University is a public research university in DeKalb, Illinois.

Evanston IL. Top-5 MBA globally. Known for collaborative culture and management theory. Zell Center for Risk Research. Kellogg Innovation and Entrepreneurship Initiative (KIEI). Strong Chicago business community connections.

Evanston IL. $15.17B endowment (Jun 2025, 6.7% return) — 13th largest US. $1.05B research FY2024. McCormick School of Engineering. Kellogg School of Management. Feinberg School of Medicine. Medill Journalism. 37 Nobel laureates. Ryan Family $480M gift (2021).

Chicago IL. Est. at Chicago Booth 1998. Top-ranked US startup accelerator. Spawned Grubhub ($7.3B), Braintree ($800M acq. PayPal), Simple Mills. Deep Tech Ventures (DTV) program — quantum, data science/AI, cleantech, life sciences. New Venture Challenge: flagship competition. Duality accelerator (quantum-only, with Chicago Quantum Exchange). Transform accelerator (data science/AI). Deep Tech Ventures Summit: flagship Midwest deep tech investor event. Corporate Collision: connects companies to quantum/AI/cleantech startups.

Urbana-Champaign IL. Renamed from Dept of Computer Science in 2024 following $50M gift from Thomas Siebel (C3.ai founder, UIUC MS 1985). #5 CS nationally (US News 2025). #5 undergraduate engineering at Grainger (US News 2025). 90 full-time faculty. 30+ undergraduate programs, 9 graduate programs. Notable alumni: Thomas Siebel (C3.ai), Ray Ozzie (Lotus Notes/Microsoft CTO), Robert McCool (NCSA HTTPd/CGI), Anna Patterson (Google AI VP). Deep connections to NCSA, IQUIST, Q-NEXT. Founding partner of Duality quantum accelerator (with UChicago + Chicago Quantum Exchange).

Southern Illinois University Edwardsville is a public university near St. Louis, Missouri.

Chicago IL. #1 quantum university in US (Nature Index July 2025). EPiQC collaboration (NSF $10M Expedition) — quantum computing software stack. Deep connections to Chicago Quantum Exchange, Argonne Q-NEXT, Fermilab SQMS. IBM $100M + Google $50M partnerships for quantum-centric supercomputer. Strong CS theory tradition. Faculty: Fred Chong (quantum software, co-founded Super.tech acquired by ColdQuanta).

Chicago IL. First school of molecular engineering in US. $100M Pritzker Foundation commitment. Dean: Nadya Mason (since Oct 2023). Three themes: immuno-engineering, quantum engineering, energy & sustainability. No departments — organized around societal challenges. Co-founded with Argonne National Laboratory. Catalyzed ~$1B in regional Chicagoland quantum investment. Pritzker Nanofabrication Facility. NSF QuBBE Quantum Leap Challenge Institute.

Chicago IL. Privately endowed research university. $10.9B endowment. 100+ Nobel laureates in faculty/alumni — most in economics (Chicago School). CS Dept: #1 quantum computing university in US (Nature Index July 2025). $100M from IBM + $50M from Google for quantum research. Manages Argonne National Laboratory (already in DB as ANL). Polsky Center: ranked top US startup accelerator — spawned Grubhub, Braintree, Simple Mills. Booth School of Business: 9 Nobel laureates. Medical campus: Pritzker School of Medicine + UChicago Medicine (NCI-designated cancer center). 2024 Nobel in Economics: James Robinson (global inequality research). President: Paul Alivisatos (2022, nanoscience pioneer).