In the news

​​​​​​​Mechanical engineering professors Hessam Babaee and Peyman Givi recently received an award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for a three-year project titled “Real-Time and Adaptive Chemical Kinetic Model Reduction Coupled with Turbulence.” 

The chemistry of combustion involves understanding how a large number of species behave and evolve in a given operating condition.  The tractability of this technically important problem becomes increasingly difficult when the operation involves turbulent mixing. 

Facebook AI and Professor Zach Ulissi in the Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) Department of Chemical Engineering are announcing the Open Catalyst Project, a collaboration intended to use AI to accelerate quantum mechanical simulations by 1,000x in order to discover new electrocatalysts needed for more efficient and scalable ways to store and use renewable energy. The overview paper and dataset paper for this work can be found on arXiv.org.

Wind and solar energy are vital parts of the modern energy grid, especially if we hope to combat climate change. Unfortunately, the sun doesn’t always shine and the wind doesn’t always blow. Both provide intermittent power, with California, for instance, seeing peak solar generation in the afternoon rather than in the evening, when demand spikes. Increasing our reliance on renewable energy requires storing power for days, weeks, or even months so that it’s available when needed.

Brookhaven National Laboratory was selected by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science to lead one of the five National Quantum Information Science (QIS) Research Centers. Brookhaven Lab will lead the Co-design Center for Quantum Advantage (C2QA), which will focus on quantum computing.

Over the next five years, C2QA will be awarded up to $115 million to build the fundamental tools necessary for the United States to create scalable, distributed, and fault-tolerant quantum computer systems.  The C2QA team comprises several national labs, research centers, universities, and industry. Among their collaborators, Brookhaven has partnered with Prof. Michael Hatridge at the University of Pittsburgh.

The Quantum Information Science and Technology (QIST) Summit, hosted by the Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Lab, took place on October 7-8th and connected industry, governmental, and academic experts to discuss six broad themes in panel sessions. PQI students attended the online event and prepared summaries of each panel.

The first of the panels was titled “Considerations for Building the US Quantum Economy”. The panelists covered topics like ethical considerations, industrial impacts, and market opportunities for the future of quantum in the economy. The moderator was Rima Kasia Oueid, the Commercialization Executive of the Office of Technology Transitions at the Department of Energy

The Quantum Information Science and Technology (QIST) Summit, hosted by the Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Lab, took place on October 7-8th and connected industry, governmental, and academic experts to discuss six broad themes in panel sessions. PQI students attended the online event and prepared summaries of each panel.

The Department of Energy Investments & Capabilities in Quantum Materials R&D panel discussed the foundational quantum information science (QIS) in discovering new quantum materials and molecular systems by controlling their unique properties such that they can be incorporated into qubits for quantum sensing, computing, and communication.

Some of the major challenges in quantum material research are characterizing the functionality of quantum devices at a fundamental level, innovative theory and computational tools, world-leading experimental capabilities, and most importantly, diverse research teams. The panel discussion was moderated by Linda Horton, (Associate Director of Science for Basic Energy Sciences, Department of Energy, Office of Science).

The Quantum Information Science and Technology (QIST) Summit, hosted by the Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Lab, took place on October 7-8th and connected industry, governmental, and academic experts to discuss six broad themes in panel sessions. PQI students attended the online event and prepared summaries of each panel. 

The Quantum Networking and Communication panel discussion was moderated by Prof. David Awschalom from the University of Chicago, who is also the quantum group leader in Argonne National Laboratory. This panel mainly discussed recent developments and challenges in the field, driving areas of interests, the near- and long-term focus of the industry, and potential impact in society. 

Carnegie Mellon and the Tepper School of Business have long been leaders in transformational education, where researchers successfully challenge the status quo to create new technologies and processes that solidify our reputation as innovative thinkers and doers.

Sridhar R. Tayur, Ford Distinguished Research Chair and University Professor of Operations Management, believes that quantum computing will be one of the next consequential innovations to put the university’s name in the history books.

Three projects led by PQI professors in the University of Pittsburgh’s Swanson School of Engineering, James McKone, Feng Xiong, and Nathan Youngblood, recently received funding from the National Science Foundation. Additionally, Ken Jordan in the Pitt Department of Chemistry is Co-PI on an NSF-funded project led by Lei Li to use computational methods to understand the mechanisms of wetting transparency of graphene on liquid substrates and demonstrate the real-time control of surface wettability

As objects heat up, they not only glow but also emit acoustic energy. This “acoustic blackbody radiation” may be as ubiquitous as its more famous electromagnetic cousin but is typically faint and difficult to characterize. Now, a pair of researchers, Thomas Purdy and Robinjeet Singh, have used a nanomechanical resonator to detect acoustic blackbody radiation from a remote source [1]. They say their technique—the acoustic analog of remote infrared thermometry—could lead to improvements in applications ranging from metrology to quantum information.

The Innovare Advancement Center, a partnership between the Air Force Research Laboratory Information Directorate (AFRL/RI), New York State, and others, hosted a unique quantum-focused virtual pitch competition, the “Million Dollar International Quantum U Tech Accelerator,” on September 1-3 to launch their new open innovation campus in Rome, NY.

The goal of the competition was to encourage university researchers that pursue high impact projects in quantum timing, sensing, information processing/computing, and communications/networking to bring a new quantum phenomenon into the military while offering about $1,000,000 to the finalists.

Even with nearly 250 teams from 22 countries submitting proposals to take part in the competition, two PQI faculty, Dr. Tom Purdy and Dr. Gurudev Dutt, were among the top 36 selected to take part in the live pitch event, each giving a 10-minute presentation with Q&A (watch presentations from Tom and Gurudev). Ultimately, 18 finalists were selected for the $1M+ in basic research funds and Gurudev won in the topic of quantum sensing.