Quantum Alley
2024 Agenda
Tuesday, 25 JUNE 2024
11:15 AM – 11:30 AM – Quick Talks #1 – Educating the Quantum Workforce
Featured: Seth Cottrell, Professor at The City College of New York & Deborah Novick, Director of Entrepreneurship and Innovation at Westchester County
Seth Cottrell earned his undergraduate degrees in math and physics from UC Santa Cruz and his PhD in mathematics from the Courant Institute at NYU.
Since 2020 he has taught a course on Quantum Computation that he wrote for undergraduates at The City College of New York (CCNY). He is the creator and Principal Investigator of CCNY’s new undergraduate quantum lab, where students gain direct experience with superposition, interference, entanglement, quantum measurements, and quantum metrology. Recently Seth became the head of quantum outreach for CCNY.
Seth is the author of “Do Colors Exist?: And Other Profound Physics Questions”, a pop-science book answering questions he received from the public, and `Quantum Computation: An Introduction for Undergraduates”, a publicly-available textbook on quantum computation and quantum fundamentals aimed at any student with a linear algebra background. It’s available for free by clicking HERE!
Deborah Novick is the Director of Entrepreneurship and Innovation within the Westchester County Office of Economic Development, where she identifies opportunities to improve and expand the entrepreneurial and innovation ecosystem in Westchester. Programs within her portfolio include Launch1000, Westchester RISES, the Element 46 incubator program, the Westchester County Life Sciences Initiative, and the Life Sciences Accelerator program. Prior to joining the County, she was the Director of BioInc@NYMC, the biotechnology incubator at New York Medical College, where she oversaw a doubling of the space, which houses more than 10 startups. Since February 2020, she has been a member of the Board of the Westchester County Association.
3:00 PM – 3:30 PM – Quick Talks #2 – Building a Future DoD QIS Testing Environment
Featured: Mr. Jim Robertson, Deputy Chief of Staff for Representative Elise Stefanik & Dr. Michael Hayduk, Deputy Director at the Air Force Research Laboratory’s Information Directorate
Join us for an insightful mini panel discussion on having a robust Quantum Information Science (QIS) testing environment for the Department of Defense (DoD). Featuring Mr. Jim Robertson, Deputy Chief of Staff for Representative Elise Stefanik, and Dr. Michael Hayduk, Deputy Director at the Air Force Research Laboratory’s Information Directorate, this session will explore strategic initiatives, technological advancements, and collaborative efforts essential for establishing a cutting-edge QIS infrastructure. Moderated by Mr. Tim Clancy from the Griffiss Institute, this discussion aims to outline the roadmap for integrating quantum technologies into national defense capabilities.
Wednesday, 26 JUNE 2024
10:30 AM – 10:45 AM – Quick Talks #3 – Distribution of High Quality Entanglement Over Telecom Fiber
Featured: Noel Goddard, CEO, Qunnect, Brooklyn, NY
Qunnect innovates hardware to transform existing telecommunications fiber into quantum networks. In 2021 we were the first company in the world to commercialize a quantum memory that operates without the need for extreme cooling or vacuum, addressing a significant barrier to scaling these technologies beyond metropolitan distances. We followed this achievement with the release of an entanglement source, the only instrument on the market producing high rate, narrow linewidth photons that natively interface with atomic quantum devices (memories, sensors, computers) and telecom fiber. In 2023 Qunnect built a fiber network in NYC, Gotham Q, to showcase our instruments, and recently published the ground-breaking metrics, sustaining 15+ days of continuous operation at rates of 180k pairs/s, with 99% fidelity and 99% network uptime. This paves the way for real-world quantum network applications. Noel is the CEO of Qunnect, a company innovating hardware to transform the existing telecom infrastructure into quantum networks. Prior to this role, she was an investor with the Accelerate NY Seed Fund, where she built a successful portfolio of deep technology and life science companies in Downstate NY. Noel is a serial entrepreneur, having founded/led two biotech startup companies. Before joining the startup community, Noel was a professor of physics at Hunter College, CUNY and a Junior Fellow of Harvard University.
2:15 PM – 2:45 PM – Quick Talks #4 – Superconducting Quantum Computing with Cryogenic Digital Control
Featured: Oleg A. Mukhanov, CTO and co-founder, SEEQC, Elmsford, NY
Traditionally, the control and measurement of superconducting quantum processors are performed using room-temperature electronics connected to cryogenic environment via high fidelity cables. This poses daunting technical challenges to quantum system scaling as the heat load, latency, noise, and interference associated with bringing signals in and out of the cryostat rises dramatically with number of quantum devices. By integrating the control and readout electronics into the cryostat in proximity to quantum devices, these problems can be drastically reduced to enable large-scale quantum processors. Superconducting Single Flux Quantum (SFQ) digital logic is used for the implementation of a proximal classical co-processor for high-fidelity, fast qubit control and measurement. SFQ digital circuits also can perform in situ classical processing of the results of quantum measurement to enable fast error tracking and feedback to stabilize the quantum array. Superconducting SFQ circuits are being fabricated at SEEQC Foundry – a commercial chip foundry serving a wide variety of customers from academia, industry and government.
Thursday, 27 JUNE 2024
10:10 AM – 10:30 AM – Quick Talks #5 – Growing the Open Source Quantum Ecosystem
Featured: Ben Castanon, Chief of Staff, Unitary Fund
Bio: Ben Castanon is Chief of Staff for Unitary Fund, a quantum technology non-profit. He oversees ecosystem development, partnerships, and growth for the organization, working alongside Unitary Fund’s board of directors and founder Dr. William Zeng. He has spent the last 13 years in New York non-profit community development and philanthropic management, across the arts and sciences.
Description: Founded in 2018, Unitary Fund is a non-profit devoted to creating a quantum technology ecosystem that benefits the most people. In this talk, we’ll give an overview of our approach to growing a sustainable and collaborative quantum technology community, and delve into our various programs and initiatives, including grantmaking, community resource development, open source research, workshops, and hackathons. Harvard University.