QCIS-FF: Quantum Computing & Information Science Faculty Fellow at the University of California-Davis

University Of California-Davis, Davis CA

Investigators

Abstract

Quantum computing is the study of quantum computers, which are a new type of computer that can process information using the laws of quantum mechanics. Once serious quantum computers can be built, they will be able to run new algorithms for selected problems that are faster than anything possible with classical computers - in some cases, exponentially faster. They will represent a new chapter in the computer and information revolution, the quantum chapter. Since the unexpected discovery of quantum computing in the 1980s and 1990s, research has made steady and exciting progress. This award will help the University of California, Davis join the growing and extremely important wave of research in quantum computing, by funding a new faculty position in the Department of Computer Science. The new position will complement existing research strength in quantum computing and quantum information (QCQI) at UC Davis in the Departments of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Mathematics, and Physics. It will help UC Davis reach a critical mass to sustain and expand quantum computing research and training indefinitely into the future. The project will begin with a flexible search across all research areas and topics within QCQI that are suitable for a computer science department. These topics include: mathematically rigorous quantum algorithms, quantum complexity theory, heuristic quantum algorithms, quantum error correction, quantum communication, quantum software, quantum communication, quantum information bounds, quantum circuit optimization, design of quantum devices, and post-quantum cryptography. The ideal candidate would interact with both non-quantum researchers in Computer Science and quantum researchers in other departments at UC Davis. As UC Davis achieves a critical mass of QCQI faculty, existing topics courses will expand into cohesive graduate training. Existing topical seminars will expand into an interdepartmental QCQI research network at UC Davis, and quantum computing related topics will begin to tunnel down into our undergraduate curriculum in order to ensure we have a sufficiently trained workforce in the future. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.