Universities Quantum Technology Coalition
An ion trap quantum simulator on the IU Bloomington campus. (photo courtesy of James Brosher
Subscriber Benefit
As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowScientists at Purdue University, the University of Notre Dame, Indiana University Bloomington and IUPUI are partnering to establish a quantum research center in the state. The Center for Quantum Technologies, led by Purdue, will be established through the National Science Foundation’s Industry-University Cooperative Research program.
Industry partners can provide research funding to the center’s scientists and gain early access to findings applicable to their businesses.
IU says the partnership is expected to bring dozens of scientists from the university partners, as well as industry, together to tackle applied research in the field. The technologies could impact energy efficiency, computational speeds, banking and national security, defense, and healthcare.
“The Center for Quantum Technologies will be a tremendous complement to our on-going activities in the IU Quantum Science and Engineering Center,” said David Baxter, professor and chair of the IU Bloomington College of Arts and Sciences’ Department of Physics. “It will help us establish direct connections to the industrial concerns that will be making use of quantum technologies in the coming decades, greatly expanding opportunities for our students and helping us identify new areas of research.”
IU says faculty experts in machine learning, quantum algorithms and quantum simulation are expected to play a major role in the new center. At IUPUI, over 20 faculty members and their research teams from the School of Science and School of Engineering and Technology will contribute to the center.
“The formation of the Center for Quantum Technologies gives a unique platform to continue to strengthen the partnership between IUPUI and industry, expanding this ongoing relationship into the realm of quantum science and technology,” said Ricardo Decca, professor and chair of the Department of Physics in the School of Science at IUPUI. “With the rapid transformation of quantum computation, quantum sensing and quantum communication from the academic world into the commercial environment, IUPUI research groups will help strengthen the participation of central Indiana into the National Quantum Initiative.”
Program leaders say one of the main objectives of the center is to build a highly-skilled workforce and increased U.S. economic competitiveness.
In addition, IU says students engaged with the center will take on responsibilities of a principal investigator, including drafting proposals, presenting research updates to industry members, and planning meetings and workshops.
Project leaders will spend the next year organizing researchers across the center’s universities, as well as recruit industry partners.