State Senator initiates audit into Discovery Partners Institute after project objective change

Yahoo

10-05-2025

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (WCIA) — In Springfield, State Senator Chapin Rose is leading a full audit of the Discovery Partners Institute at the University of Illinois.
There was supposed to be a tech hub built in Chicago, but that project was cancelled and shifted to focusing on quantum computing. U of I System President Timothy Killeen has been heading the institute for the past eight years.
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Rose said in that time, it has spent $30 million with almost nothing to show for it. Now, he's hoping this investigation can shed light on what went wrong.
'That's insane. Like, what is going on? How do you lose $30 million?' Rose said. 'In the handling of these funds, we want to know where every penny went. But this isn't just a financial audit, it's also a performance audit. They're going to look at every email, every decision point, they're going to tell us what happened, how we got here. At the end of the day, I think Tim Killeen should be removed from his duties related to DPI.'
The state audit commission unanimously approved the Mahomet Senator's request late last month. Rose said the process will most likely take months to complete.
WCIA reached out to Killeen and his media team, but they declined to comment.
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