Entangled Things

In Episode 54, Patrick and Ciprian take a retrospective look at the past two years of Entangled Things.The team discuss the perhaps unlikely success of the format, learning to trust the math, recent chipset releases, and the surprises of the past two years.

In Episode 53, Patrick and Ciprian speak with Dr. Johannes Oberreuter, Data Science Technical Lead at Machine Learning Reply.Among other topics, the team discuss classical neural networks, quantum networks, hybrid approaches, and the ongoing reduction of resource needs and improving accuracy of neural networks.Dr. Johannes Oberreuter works as a Data Science Technical Lead at Machine Learning Reply and he is co-leading the Quantum Computing practice in Reply. He has been studying physics and mathematics in Munich (Diploma of Physics), Heidelberg and Cambridge (Master of Advanced Study in Mathematics) and has obtained his PhD in theoretical physics at the university of Amsterdam on quantum effects in the early universe. He has also conducted research at the University of Göttingen and TU Munich on quantum dynamics.

In Episode 52, Patrick and Ciprian speak with returning guest Todd Brun of the University of Southern California.Among other topics, the team discuss error correction, non-Markovian errors, the limitations of current quantum processors and the battle between numbers of Qubits and amounts of noise.Todd Brun is a Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Physics, and Computer Science at the University of Southern California.  He does research on quantum theory, especially on the problems of quantum computing and quantum information science.  Prof. Brun received his Ph.D. in Physics from Caltech in 1994, and did postdoctoral work at the University of London (Queen Mary and Westfield College), the Institute for Theoretical Physics in Santa Barbara, Carnegie Mellon University, and the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, before starting at USC in 2003.

In Episode 51, Patrick and Ciprian speak with Shai Zacaraev, Dean in the Upper School at the Dwight-Englewood School.Among other topics, the team discuss teaching quantum to high school students, working past biases and restrictions of existing knowledge, and the speed of growth in technology.Dr. Shai Zacaraev is a Dean in the Upper School at the Dwight-Englewood School in Englewood, NJ. He has had multiple careers over the years that have spanned the gamut across technology, finance, and education. He holds an undergraduate degree and Masters in computer and information science from Brooklyn College, a Masters in education leadership from Columbia University and a doctorate in educational and organizational leadership from the University of Pennsylvania. He is currently teaching a course on Quantum algorithms as an advanced elective to high school students. This is a course he developed with the help of one of his old professors (Professor Yanofsky, a previous guest here) and has been able to refine it over the years. He is looking forward to discussing the course on this podcast and begin to rethink when and what we are introducing to our students as they grow in this fast paced, ever evolving technological age, where change is the new norm.

In Episode 50, Patrick and Ciprian delve into the hype surrounding Quantum.The team discuss Sabine Hossenfelder's recent video regarding the Quantum Hype Bubble, and separating the understanding of real advancements from media bias.

In Episode 49, Patrick and Ciprian take a look at the Nobel Prize in Physics.The team discuss Entanglement, some of the other scientific achievements that set the stage, and the implications of bringing Quantum topics to the forefront of scientific discussion.

In Episode 48, Patrick and Ciprian speak with returning guest Bob Coecke, Chief Scientist at Quantinuum. Among other topics, the team discuss modern paths into Quantum, the 2022 Nobel Prize in Physics, and the possibility of a Quantum Winter.Bob Coecke is Chief Scientist at Cambridge Quantum / Quantinuum.  He also heads the Oxford-based Compositional Intelligence & Quantum NLP team and is Emeritus Professor at Wolfson College, Oxford University. Previously, he was Professor of Quantum Foundations, Logics and Structures at the Computer Science department at Oxford University, where he was for 20 years, and co-founded, built, and led a multi-disciplinary research group of up to 50 people. He supervised 66 PhD students. He pioneered Categorical Quantum Mechanics (now in AMS's MSC2020 classification), ZX-calculus, DisCoCat natural language meaning, mathematical foundations for resource theories, Quantum Natural Language Processing, and is co-author of Picturing Quantum Processes, a book providing a fully diagrammatic treatment of quantum theory and its applications. He co-authored close to 200 research papers. He's a founding father of the QPL (Quantum Physics and Logic) and ACT (Applied Category Theory) communities, the diamond open access journal Compositionality, and Cambridge University Press' Applied Category Theory book series. He was the first person to have Quantum Foundations as part of his professorial title. His work headlined in various media outlets, including Forbes, New Scientist, PhysicsWorld, ComputerWeekly. 

In Episode 47, Patrick speaks with Dakshita Khurana of the University of Illinois.Among other topics, the team discuss theoretical cryptography, multiparty computation, and simulation in cryptography.Dakshita Khurana received a B. Tech. in Electrical Engineering (Power) from IIT Delhi in 2012 and a PhD in Computer Science from UCLA in 2018. She was a postdoctoral researcher at Microsoft from 2018-19 before joining UIUC as an Assistant Professor in 2019.  Her research focuses on theoretical cryptography. She has contributed to the foundations of cryptographic protocols, including to privacy-preserving proof systems, and to preventing man-in-the-middle attacks. Her more recent work investigates the foundations of quantum cryptography. Her research has been recognized as a long plenary talk at QIP and been published by invitation at the SIAM Journal on Computing.  Dakshita's research has been funded through grants from the NSF and DARPA, and gifts from Visa Research, C3AI and Jump Arches. She was named to the Forbes List of 30 under 30 in Science. She was also a Google Research Fellow at the Simons Institute, Berkeley. Previously, her thesis work was recognized with a UCLA Dissertation Year Fellowship, a UCLA CS Outstanding Graduating PhD Award and Graduate Student Research Awards from Symantec and CISCO. 

In Episode 46, Patrick and Ciprian speak with Diana Franklin of the University of Chicago.Among other topics, the team discuss K-12 education in Quantum, suspension of disbelief, and ways to communicate Quantum topics to broader audiences.Diana Franklin is an Associate Professor in Computer Science at the University of Chicago. When she received her Ph.D. at UC Davis, 2002, her research focus was computer architecture, especially new technologies. She has done research in intelligent memories, memristors, and quantum computers. In 2008, she began her transition to computer science education research. She now leads the CANON (Computing for ANyONe) Lab, specializing in both 3rd-8th grade computer science interventions and quantum computing education for novices of any age with a particular focus towards moving towards more equitable learning experiences. She is currently the co-lead of the Q-12 Partnership, a new initiative by the Office of Science and Technology Programs, the National Science Foundation, industry, and professional organizations to bootstrap K-12 quantum information science education. In addition, she serves on the CRA (Computing Research Association) Board and is the author of "A Practical Guide to Gender Diversity for CS Faculty," from Morgan Claypool. Zines: https://www.epiqc.cs.uchicago.edu/zinesOther resources:https://www.epiqc.cs.uchicago.edu/resourcesInfo about quantum games:  https://www.canonlab.org/quanderCANON research lab with classical CS resources: http://canonlab.orgInterested in participating in a quantum activity in a K-12 classroom during World Quantum Day on April 14th? Quantime will have activities posted for middle and high school classrooms with no expectations of teacher background in QIS. https://q12education.org/quantime

In Episode 45, Patrick and Ciprian speak with returning guest Elisabetta Valiante of 1QBit.Among other topics, the team discuss the need to create a standard benchmark for quantum computers, and the varying approaches of private business and the public sector.Elisabetta Valiante has been a member of the Optimization Solutions Team at 1QBit since 2018. She is experienced in optimization problems in chemistry, biochemistry, and finance, as well as benchmarking quantum and quantum-inspired optimization algorithms and hardware. Elisabetta graduated in Physics in her home country at the Sapienza University of Rome. She earned a PhD from the Ludwig Maximilian University with a dissertation on galaxy evolution, and had postdoctoral appointments at the University of British Columbia and Cardiff University. She was the leader of the first major world data release of the Herschel Astrophysical Terahertz Large Area Survey (H-ATLAS). Elisabetta has published and co-authored scientific articles in peer-reviewed journals, and has presented at many international conferences (for example, the XXIX International Astronomical Union General Assembly) and colloquia.A passionate mentor, she recently participated in the “Girls and STEAM” event at Science World in Vancouver, BC.Elisabetta currently resides in Vancouver, BC with her partner and her cat.