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

量子信息科学技术可以从根本上影响我们今天的生活方式：通过利用物质的量子特性，量子信息技术可以实现新药设计、材料发现、解决交通优化等问题，并为信息传输提供无条件的安全保障。虽然物理学家一直在引领量子现象和技术的初步研究，但要创造具有实际影响力的量子技术和构建量子系统，工程师必须发挥主导作用。随着中等规模量子系统的实现，量子技术似乎已经接近系统级的计算和通信阶段。然而，挑战是巨大的。该领域仍然缺乏控制和集成中等规模（更不用说大规模）量子系统所需的基本工程工具和专业知识，因此在独立量子设备和全面集成量子系统之间存在鸿沟。解决这些挑战的关键在于电气和计算机工程的专业知识——既要创新思想，也要为工业和国家实验室提供劳动力培训。在QCIS-FF项目的支持下，华盛顿大学（UW）电气与计算机工程系（ECE）将招聘一名终身教职员工。这名新员工将加入全校范围内的努力，利用威斯康星大学在量子信息科学与技术方面的现有实验实力，建立一个广泛的量子技术人才库。这名教员还将利用华盛顿大学靠近当地工业和国家实验室的量子研究努力，吸引所需的专业知识来弥合设备系统的鸿沟。在QCIS-FF项目的支持下，华盛顿大学（UW）电气与计算机工程（ECE）将招聘一名量子信息科学领域的终身教职员工，该教职员工具有量子控制理论、量子安全、量子网络和相关领域的专业知识。这一理论招聘将加入全校范围内的努力，以建立一个广泛的量子技术人才库，利用西澳大学在量子材料、量子器件（电子和光学）和小规模量子系统方面的现有实验实力，跨越ECE、物理系和材料科学系。此外，该招聘将与欧洲经委会和计算机科学系的研究人员在量子和经典计算系统和架构的接口领域密切合作。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Quantum information science and technology can fundamentally impact the way we live today: by leveraging the quantum properties of matter, quantum information technology can enable new drug design, discovery of materials, solve problems like traffic optimization and provide unconditional security for information transfer. While physicists have been leading the initial research of quantum phenomena and technology, to create practically impactful quantum technologies and build quantum systems, engineers must play a dominant role. With the realization of midscale quantum systems on the horizon, quantum technologies seemingly have approached a system-level stage of computation and communication. The challenges, however, are immense. The field still lacks the fundamental engineering tools and expertise needed to control and integrate midscale (let alone large-scale) quantum systems, such that there exists a ravine between stand-alone quantum devices and full-scale integrated quantum systems. Addressing these challenges lie squarely in the expertise of Electrical and Computer Engineering - both in innovating new ideas as well as workforce training for industry and national labs. With the support of the QCIS-FF program, the University of Washington (UW) Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) Department will recruit a tenure-track faculty member. This new-hire will join a university-wide effort to build a broad talent pool in quantum technologies, leveraging UW’s existing experimental strength in quantum information science and technology. This faculty fellow will also leverage UW's proximity to local industry and national labs with quantum research efforts to attract the needed expertise to bridge the device-system ravine.With the support of the QCIS-FF program, the University of Washington (UW) Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) will recruit a tenure-track faculty member in quantum information science with expertise in the theory of quantum control, quantum security, quantum networks, and related fields. This theory hire will join a university-wide effort to build a broad talent pool in quantum technologies, leveraging UW's existing experimental strength in quantum materials, quantum devices (both electronic and optical), and small-scale quantum systems, spanning across ECE, Physics, and Material Science Departments. Additionally, this hire will work closely with researchers in the ECE and Computer Science departments in the area of interfacing quantum and classical computing systems and architectures.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.