Three Dartmouth physics professors are joining newly announced Quantum Leap Challenge Institutes as part of the National Science Foundation's latest investment in quantum information science and technology. Professors Lorenza Viola, Mattias Fitzpatrick, and James Whitfield are members in two newly formed institutes trying to fast-track the US in the global quantum technology race.
The NSF is set to disperse $290 million dollars across eight quantum research institutes. The eight programs are designed to tackle some of the biggest challenges facing quantum science and technologies today. The investment is an expansion of NSF's Quantum Leap Challenge Institutes program. Three of the eight institutes are newly formed with this round of funding, and five are receiving continued funding.
Professor Lorenza Viola is a member of the NSF Quantum Leap Challenge Institute for Fault Tolerant Quantum Systems, Architectures and Applications (NSF FTQSAA). This institute is led by Norman Yao at Harvard, and will receive around $37 million to develop more robust quantum systems that can better tolerate noise and mitigate error propagation and will find application in both quantum computing and quantum sensing. You can read Harvard's announcement of the institute for more information.
Assistant Professor Mattias Fitzpatrick, whose primary appointment is with Thayer, and Associate Professor James Whitfield are part of the NSF Quantum Leap Challenge Institute for Manufacturable and Resilient Superconducting Quantum Information Systems (NSF MARQUIS). This institute is led by Nathalie de Leon at Princeton, and will receive $27.5 million to fabricate improved superconducting circuits for quantum computers at much larger scale. You can read Princeton's announcement or Thayer's announcement for more information.