The Quantum Week 2023 program features outstanding keynote speakers addressing topics of the IEEE International Conference on Quantum Computing and Engineering (QCE23). The plenary keynotes are intended to fire up the conference attendees at the beginning of each conference day and provide food for thought to stimulate discussion at the end day. The keynote speakers will promote the virtues and state of the art of the different themes of quantum computing and engineering.
University of Chicago | Q-Next — Professor and inaugural Director of Q-Next
KEY01 — Monday, September 18, 2023 @ 8:00-09:30 Pacific Time (PDT) — UTC-7
Yale University — Assistant Professor of Applied Physics
KEY02 — Monday, September 18, 2023 @ 17:00-18:30 Pacific Time (PDT) — UTC-7
IBM Quantum — Senior Manager, Quantum Theory and Capabilities
KEY03 — Tuesday, September 19, 2023 @ 8:00-09:30 Pacific Time (PDT) — UTC-7
Quantum Machines — CEO @ QM
KEY04 — Tuesday, September 19, 2023 @ 17:00-18:30 Pacific Time (PDT) — UTC-7
Quantum Machines — CTO @ QM
KEY04 — Tuesday, September 19, 2023 @ 17:00-18:30 Pacific Time (PDT) — UTC-7
Leibniz Supercomputing Centre — Head of Quantum Computing and Technologies
KEY05 — Wednesday, September 20, 2023 @ 8:00-09:30 Mountain Time (MT) — UTC-7
SandboxAQ — Vice President of Engineering
KEY06 — Wednesday, September 20, 2023 @ 17:00-18:30 Pacific Time (PDT) — UTC-7
Microsoft — Distinguished Engineer and VP of Advanced Quantum Development
KEY07 — Thursday, September 21, 2023 @ 8:00-09:30 Pacific Time (PDT) — UTC-7
Amazon Web Services — Global Practice Lead: Amazon Quantum Solutions Lab
KEY08 — Thursday, September 21, 2023 @ 17:00-18:30 Pacific Time (PDT) — UTC-7
JPMorgan Chase — Head of Global Technology Applied Research, Head of Quantum Computing
KEY09 — Friday, September 22, 2023 @ 8:00-09:30 Pacific Time (PDT) — UTC-7
David Awschalom is the Liew Family Professor and Vice Dean of the Pritzker School for Molecular Engineering at the University of Chicago, a Senior Scientist at Argonne National Laboratory, and Director of the Chicago Quantum Exchange. He is also the inaugural director of Q-NEXT, one of the US Department of Energy Quantum Information Science Research Centers. Before arriving in Chicago, he was the Director of the California NanoSystems Institute and Professor of Physics, Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of California – Santa Barbara, and previously a Research Staff Member and Manager at the IBM Watson Research Center. He works in spintronics and quantum information engineering, studying the quantum states of electrons, nuclei, and photons in semiconductors and molecules for quantum information processing. Awschalom received the APS Oliver Buckley Prize and Julius Edgar Lilienfeld Prize, the EPS Europhysics Prize, the MRS David Turnbull Award and Outstanding Investigator Prize, the AAAS Newcomb Cleveland Prize, the International Magnetism Prize from the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics, and an IBM Outstanding Innovation Award. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, the National Academy of Science, the National Academy of Engineering, and the European Academy of Sciences.
Shruti received a Ph.D. in Applied Physics from Stanford University in 2014 after which she conducted postdoctoral research at University of Sherbrooke from 2014-2017 and at Yale University from 2017-2020. Her research centers around the theory of quantum information processing, quantum optics, quantum control of open quantum systems, quantum error correction, and quantum algorithms.
Shruti Puri, PhD, is a theoretical quantum physicist working at the forefront of the fields of quantum computing and quantum information science.
Puri’s theoretical treatment of error (noise) in quantum computing systems blends ideas from quantum physics with methods from computer science in an effort to preserve the fragile ecosystems of the quantum world from noise. Puri’s research aims to make these quantum computing systems more robust in the face of noise, and her results to-date have yielded some of the most important breakthroughs in the field in over a decade.
Her landmark theoretical discovery of a new type of quantum bit (qubit) has established a completely new way to store information in quantum computers. This new type of quantum bit—widely known across the field as a Kerr-cat—stores information in microwave photons (quanta of light). This new type of quantum bit is tailored to be robust against most errors induced by the environment and the few remaining errors become relatively easy to correct.
Dr. Sarah Sheldon is a Principal Research Scientist and Senior Manager of Quantum Theory and Capabilities at IBM Quantum. She leads a team that studies quantum theory, error mitigation, and error correction. Her group develops techniques for handling noise and optimizing performance in novel experimental demonstrations of quantum computers. Sarah’s research has focused on improving gate calibrations in superconducting qubits, developing techniques for characterizing quantum devices, and extending the capabilities of current quantum systems. She received her Ph.D. in nuclear science and engineering from MIT in 2013 and conducted much of her graduate research at the University of Waterloo’s Institute for Quantum Computing as a visiting scholar. She joined IBM shortly after, where she continues to enjoy the collaborative effort and unique challenges required to realize quantum computing.
Co-Founder and CEO of Quantum Machines.
Dr. Itamar Sivan is an accomplished entrepreneur and CEO, with a strong background in academia. He completed his BSc and MSc in physics at Ecole Normale Supérieure, followed by a Ph.D. in quantum electronics and microfabrication in Prof. Moty Heiblum’s lab at the Weizmann Institute of Science. Sivan has published works in peer-reviewed journals and received the John F. Kennedy Prize for academic excellence in 2015.
As co-founder and ex-managing director of the Weizmann Institute's entrepreneurship program, Dr. Sivan played a pivotal role in creating a culture of innovation and driving the growth of successful startups. Today, as co-founder and CEO of Quantum Machines, he is leveraging his expertise to drive business growth and innovation in the Quantum Computing industry.
Co-Founder and CTO of Quantum Machines Dr. Yonatan Cohen is a physicist, entrepreneur, and co-founder of Quantum Machines, where he currently serves as the Chief Technology Officer. He completed his Ph.D. at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel, where he focused on quantum electronics, superconducting-semiconducting devices, and microfabrication. Dr. Cohen is also the co-founder and ex-managing director of the Weizmann Institute's entrepreneurship program. He has published works in peer-reviewed journals and is recognized for his contributions to the field of quantum computing. As CTO Dr. Cohen has played a critical role in developing the Quantum Orchestration Platform, which is the first-of-its-kind control and operation system for quantum computers. This platform enables the realization of the potential of any quantum processors and accelerates the realization of useful quantum computers.
Laura Schulz is head of Quantum Computing and Technologies and leads strategic development and partnership initiatives in supercomputing at the Leibniz Supercomputing Centre (LRZ) near Munich, Germany. Before joining LRZ, she was part of the Computation directorate at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) as well as LLNL’s High Performance Computing Innovation Center (HPCIC), which connects industry with the lab’s novel technologies in HPC. Laura was the lead author of LRZ’s Strategic Plan for Quantum Computing, the PI for Germany’s EuroHPC Joint Undertaking project Euro-Q-Exa, and co-founder of the monthly Bavarian Quantum Computing eXchange (BQCX). She leads multiple efforts toward integrating emerging quantum accelerators into several layers of the HPC ecosystem: from placement and residency in HPC centers, through hardware and software hybridization to user-centric adoption of HPCQC workflows and applications. Recently, Laura was named an HPCWire 2023 Person to Watch.
Dr. Stefan Leichenauer is the VP of Engineering and lead scientist at SandboxAQ. Stefan joined the Sandbox team as it began at Alphabet to bring AI and Quantum technologies to real-world applications, and initiated all of the projects that have become the SandboxAQ product portfolio. He recruited teams of engineers and scientists to further develop the SandboxAQ products and became Research and Engineering to oversee all of the projects. Today he drives all product development at SandboxAQ. Stefan is also the bridge between the engineering and business/strategy divisions of SandboxAQ, and works closely with the partnerships team to craft external engagements. He received his Ph.D. in Physics from UC Berkeley, and has held positions in Physics at UC Berkeley and Caltech as a leading researcher. He maintains a close connection with academia through the SandboxAQ PhD Residency and Postdoc programs.
Dr. Krysta Svore is passionate about empowering people and organizations around the world with quantum computing and realizing a scaled quantum machine. Her team designs and delivers Azure Quantum, the most diverse cloud platform for quantum research and discovery, and is developing a comprehensive software stack for scalable quantum computing including languages, compilers, and mappings to quantum hardware. Her team designs open software including Q# and QIR. Dr. Svore has published over 70 refereed articles and filed over 30 patents. She is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She won the 2010 Yahoo! Learning to Rank Challenge with a team of colleagues, received an ACM Best of 2013 Notable Article award, and was recognized as one of Business Insider Most Powerful Female Engineers of 2018. A Kavli fellow of the National Academy of Sciences, she also serves as an advisor to the National Quantum Initiative, the Advanced Scientific Computing Advisory Committee of the Department of Energy, and the ISAT Committee of DARPA, in addition to numerous other quantum centers and initiatives globally.
Dr. Helmut Katzgraber earned a diploma in physics from ETH Zurich, and his master’s degree and PhD in physics at the University of California Santa Cruz. After postdoc positions at the University of California Davis and ETH Zurich, he was awarded a Swiss National Science Foundation professorship. In 2009, he joined Texas A&M University as an assistant professor, and became a full professor in 2015. Katzgraber joined Microsoft as a principal research manager in 2018 before joining Amazon in 2020. He was elected Fellow of the American Physical Society in 2021 and leads the Quantum Solutions Lab at AWS.
Marco Pistoia, Ph.D. is a Managing Director, Distinguished Engineer, and the Head of Global Technology Applied Research at JPMorgan Chase, where he leads research in various areas, particularly Quantum Computing. He joined JPMorgan Chase in January 2020. Formerly, he was a Senior Manager, Distinguished Research Staff Member and Master Inventor at the IBM T.J. Watson Research Center in New York, where he managed an international team of researchers responsible for Quantum Computing Algorithms and Applications. He was at IBM Research for 24 years. Dr. Pistoia is the inventor of 271 patents, granted by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, and 319 patent-pending applications. In August 2022, he was certified as the 250th most prolific inventor of all time according to the US Patents and Trademarks Office. He is one of the 12 technologists included in HPCwire People to Watch 2023, a 21-year-old program that “recognizes HPC professionals who play leading roles in driving innovation within their particular fields, making significant contributions to society as a whole.” Dr. Pistoia received his Ph.D. in Mathematics from New York University in May 2005. He is the lead author of nine printed books, including Enterprise Java Security (published by Addison-Wesley in English and by Tsinghua University Press in Chinese) and Java 2 Network Security (published by Prentice Hall). He is also a coauthor of the online book Learn Quantum Computation using Qiskit. In the course of his career, he has authored over 400 scholarly publications and received five distinguished paper awards from the ACM and IEEE.