Danna Freedman is seeking the early adopters.<\/p>\n
She is the faculty director of the nascent MIT Quantum Initiative, or QMIT. In this new role, Freedman is giving shape to an ambitious, Institute-wide effort to apply quantum breakthroughs to the most consequential challenges in science, technology, industry, and national security.<\/p>\n
The interdisciplinary endeavor, the newest of MIT President Sally Kornbluth\u2019s\u00a0strategic initiatives<\/a>, will bring together MIT researchers and domain experts from a range of industries to identify and tackle practical challenges wherever quantum solutions could achieve the greatest impact.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve already seen how the breadth of progress in quantum has created opportunities to rethink the future of security<\/a> and\u00a0encryption<\/a>, imagine new modes of navigation, and even measure\u00a0gravitational waves<\/a> more precisely to observe the cosmos in an entirely new way,\u201d says Freedman, the\u00a0Frederick George Keyes Professor of Chemistry. \u201cWhat can we do next? We\u2019re investing in the promise of quantum, and where the legacy will be in 20 years.\u201d<\/p>\n QMIT \u2014 the name is a nod to the \u201cqubit,\u201d the basic unit of quantum information \u2014 will formally launch on Dec. 8 with an all-day event on campus. Over time, the initiative plans to establish a physical home in the heart of campus for academic, public, and corporate engagement with state-of-the-art integrated quantum systems. Beyond MIT\u2019s campus, QMIT will also work closely with the U.S. government and MIT Lincoln Laboratory, applying the lab\u2019s capabilities in quantum hardware development, systems engineering, and rapid prototyping to national security priorities.<\/p>\n \u201cThe MIT Quantum Initiative seizes a timely opportunity in service to the nation\u2019s scientific, economic, and technological competitiveness,\u201d says Ian A. Waitz, MIT\u2019s vice president for research. \u201cWith quantum capabilities approaching an inflection point, QMIT will engage students and researchers across all our schools and the college, as well as companies around the world, in thinking about what a step change in sensing and computational power will mean for a wide range of fields. Incredible opportunities exist in health and life sciences, fundamental physics research, cybersecurity, materials science, sensing the world around us, and more.\u201d<\/p>\n Identifying the right questions<\/strong><\/p>\n Quantum phenomena are as foundational to our world as light or gravity. At an extremely small scale, the interactions of atoms and subatomic particles are controlled by a different set of rules than the physical laws of the macro-sized world. These rules are called quantum mechanics.<\/p>\n \u201cQuantum, in a sense, is what underlies everything,\u201d says Freedman.<\/p>\n By leveraging quantum properties, quantum devices can process information at incredible speed to solve complex problems that aren\u2019t feasible on classical supercomputers, and to enable ultraprecise sensing and measurement. Those improvements in speed and precision will become most powerful when optimized in relation to specific use cases, and as part of a complete quantum system. QMIT will focus on collaboration across domains to co-develop quantum tools, such as computers, sensors, networks, simulations, and algorithms, alongside the intended users of these systems.<\/p>\n As it develops, QMIT will be organized into programmatic pillars led by top researchers in quantum including\u00a0Paola Cappellaro<\/a>, Ford Professor of Engineering and professor of nuclear science and engineering and of physics; Isaac Chuang<\/a>, Julius A. Stratton Professor in\u00a0Electrical Engineering and Physics; Pablo Jarillo-Herrero<\/a>, Cecil and Ida Green Professor of Physics; William Oliver<\/a>, Henry Ellis Warren (1894) Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and professor of physics; Vladan Vuleti\u0107<\/a>, Lester Wolfe Professor of Physics; and Jonilyn Yoder<\/a>, associate leader of the Quantum-Enabled Computation Group at MIT Lincoln Laboratory.<\/p>\n While supporting the core of quantum research in physics, engineering, mathematics, and computer science, QMIT promises to expand the community at its frontiers, into astronomy, biology, chemistry, materials science, and medicine.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you provide a foundation that somebody can integrate with, that accelerates progress a lot,\u201d says Freedman. \u201cPerhaps we want to figure out how a quantum simulator we\u2019ve built can model photosynthesis, if that\u2019s the right question\u00a0\u2014 or maybe the right question is to study 10 failed catalysts to see why they failed.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe are going to figure out what real problems exist that we could approach with quantum tools, and work toward them in the next five years,\u201d she adds. \u201cWe are going to change the forward momentum of quantum in a way that supports impact.\u201d<\/p>\n The MIT Quantum Initiative will be administratively housed in the Research Laboratory of Electronics (RLE), with support from the Office of the Vice President for Research (VPR) and the Office of Innovation and Strategy.<\/p>\n QMIT is a natural expansion of MIT\u2019s Center for Quantum Engineering (CQE), a research powerhouse that engages more than 80 principal investigators across the MIT campus and Lincoln Laboratory to accelerate the practical application of quantum technologies.<\/p>\n \u201cCQE has cultivated a tremendously strong ecosystem of students and researchers, engaging with U.S. government sponsors and industry collaborators, including through the popular Quantum Annual Research Conference<\/a> (QuARC) and professional development classes,\u201d says Marc Baldo, the Dugald C. Jackson Professor in Electrical Engineering and director of RLE.<\/p>\n \u201cWith the backing of former vice president for research Maria Zuber, former Lincoln Lab director Eric Evans, and Marc Baldo, we launched CQE and its industry membership group in 2019 to help bridge MIT\u2019s research efforts in quantum science and engineering,\u201d says Oliver, CQE\u2019s director, who also spent 20 years at Lincoln Laboratory, most recently as a Laboratory Fellow. \u201cWe have an important opportunity now to deepen our commitment to quantum research and education, and especially in engaging students from across the Institute in thinking about how to leverage quantum science and engineering to solve hard problems.\u201d<\/p>\n Two years ago, Peter Fisher, the Thomas A. Frank (1977) Professor of Physics, in his role as associate vice president for research computing and data, assembled a faculty group led by Cappellaro and involving Baldo, Oliver, Freedman, and others, to begin to build an initiative that would span the entire Institute. Now, capitalizing on CQE\u2019s success, Oliver will lead the new MIT Quantum Initiative\u2019s quantum computing pillar, which will broaden the work of CQE into a larger effort that focuses on quantum computing, industry engagement, and connecting with end users.<\/p>\n The \u201cMIT-hard\u201d problem<\/strong><\/p>\n QMIT will build upon the Institute\u2019s historic leadership in quantum science and engineering. In the spring of 1981, MIT hosted the first\u00a0Physics of Computation Conference at the Endicott House<\/a>, bringing together nearly 50 physics and computing researchers to consider the practical promise of quantum\u00a0\u2014 an intellectual moment that is now widely regarded as the kickoff of the\u00a0second quantum revolution<\/a>. (The first was the fundamental articulation of quantum mechanics 100 years ago.)<\/p>\n Today, research in quantum science and engineering produces a steady stream of \u201cfirsts\u201d in the lab and a growing number of startup companies.<\/p>\n In collaboration with partners in industry and government, MIT researchers develop advances in areas like\u00a0quantum sensing<\/a>, which involves the use of atomic-scale systems to measure certain properties, like distance and acceleration, with extreme precision. Quantum sensing could be used in applications like brain imaging devices that capture more detail, or air traffic control systems with greater positional accuracy.<\/p>\n