While the budget crisis surrounding Fermilab seems bleak enough, Fermilab physicists and scientists are concerned how the budget slash at laboratories around the country will affect international relationships.

“Science is a fairly international undertaking,” said Chuck Brown, a Fermilab physicist and Geneva alderman. “This is certainly going to hurt the United States abroad in terms of people trusting us to carry out our commitments.”

The recently passed federal budget slashed Fermilab’s budget by $60 million. Other facilities around the country that could be impacted include NASA and the National Institutes of Health.

Brown said the reduction makes for an uneasy situation for United States laboratories in terms of planning long-term projects.

“This will convince other countries that the United States can’t be involved in the long-term,” he said. “This is devastating for the future of science in this country.”

Batavia resident Erik Ramberg, a Fermilab scientist, agrees.

“This will seriously impact whether the United States can make international agreements in science, which I think is more crucial every day,” he said.

Fermilab Director Pier Oddone said the reduction in funds could mean layoffs of at least 200 Fermi employees and will inevitably have a negative impact on the proposed International Linear Collider, the world’s latest super collider project, which Fermilab plans to bring to Illinois, as well as Fermilab’s NOvA project, the anchor of the facility’s nutrino science program.

Particle physicists from around the world have proposed the collider as the world’s next large particle accelerator.

Not only could Fermilab and other laboratories around the country lose scientists to facilities in other countries, such as Switzerland and Germany, but Brown said the United States could rapidly lose its lead in science and technology.

“It appears the government has basically canceled out all new science and technology projects,” Brown said. “It seems to be a very short-sighted thing to do. The strength of our country relies on its science and technology prowess.”

Brown, who has been with Fermilab for 34 years, said the laboratory has faced budget crises before.

“But this one is bigger than we’ve ever had,” he said.

Recently, several Illinois legislators have stepped up to aid in the fight to save the facility’s High Energy Physics program.

U.S. Sens. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Barack Obama , D-Ill., along with Rep. Judy Biggert, R-Ill., are calling on the Bush administration to increase next year’s funding for the High Energy Physics program, which supports research at Fermilab and several other laboratories and universities across the nation doing cutting-edge research.

Durbin, Obama and Biggert plan to call for an Illinois delegation meeting this month with representatives from Illinois labs and organizations to discuss a strategy to avoid potential job loss at Fermilab.

Fermi officials are also appealing to the Department of Energy for help.

Mike Fortner, R-95th District, of West Chicago, recently introduced a bill to get the state of Illinois to go on record to support a restoration of Fermilab’s funds.

An associate professor of physics at Northern Illinois University, Fortner has worked on research experiments at Fermilab for almost 20 years.

“I’m hoping the bill will get a hearing and a chance to get voted on,” he said.

Fortner also fears the budget cuts will send the wrong message to those overseas.

“To continue to have cutting-edge projects for decades to come requires international collaboration,” he said. “If the money for those programs is being cut by the host country, that doesn’t send the right message.”

Fermi’s budget slash could also affect Illinois’ economy, Fortner said.

“A lot of trained people choose to stay in Illinois,” he said. “That’s a big plus for the state.”

Ramberg started as a graduate student at Fermilab in 1984 and has worked for the laboratory since 1990, most recently on two dark matter experiments.

He is trying to remain optimistic.

“The nature of a research lab is such that there’s always many things going on simultaneously,” he said. “The laboratory is not gong to die. Fermilab has done excellent work for its lifetime and we’ll continue to do it.”