
NSF Org: |
CCF Division of Computing and Communication Foundations |
Recipient: |
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Initial Amendment Date: | February 27, 2018 |
Latest Amendment Date: | April 12, 2023 |
Award Number: | 1729369 |
Award Instrument: | Continuing Grant |
Program Manager: |
Almadena Chtchelkanova
achtchel@nsf.gov (703)292-7498 CCF Division of Computing and Communication Foundations CSE Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering |
Start Date: | March 1, 2018 |
End Date: | February 28, 2025 (Estimated) |
Total Intended Award Amount: | $2,700,000.00 |
Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $2,700,000.00 |
Funds Obligated to Date: |
FY 2019 = $552,690.00 FY 2021 = $569,573.00 FY 2022 = $586,996.00 |
History of Investigator: |
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Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
77 MASSACHUSETTS AVE CAMBRIDGE MA US 02139-4301 (617)253-1000 |
Sponsor Congressional District: |
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Primary Place of Performance: |
77 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge MA US 02139-4301 |
Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
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Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
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Parent UEI: |
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NSF Program(s): | Expeditions in Computing |
Primary Program Source: |
01001819DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT 01002021DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT 01001920DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT 01002122DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT 01001819DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT |
Program Reference Code(s): |
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Program Element Code(s): |
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Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.070 |
ABSTRACT
Quantum computing sits poised at the verge of a revolution. Quantum machines may soon be capable of performing calculations in machine learning, computer security, chemistry, and other fields that are extremely difficult or even impossible for today's computers. Few of these limitless possibilities on the horizon that quantum computing could lead to are better drug discovery, more efficient photovoltaics, new nanoscale materials, and perhaps even more efficient food production. These benefits will be enabled by substantially improving the ability to solve computational problems in quantum chemistry, quantum simulation, and optimization. These dramatic improvements arise because each additional quantum bit doubles the potential computing power of a machine, accumulating exponential gains that could eventually eclipse the world's largest supercomputers. Quantum computing will also drive a new segment of the computing industry, providing new strategies for specific applications that increase computational power even as physical limits slow improvements in classical silicon-chip technology. This multi-institutional project, Enabling Practical-scale Quantum Computing (EPiQC) Expedition, will help bring the great potential of this new paradigm into reality by reducing the current gap between existing theoretical algorithms and practical quantum computing architectures. Over five years, the EPiQC Expedition will collectively develop new algorithms, software, and machine designs tailored to key properties of quantum device technologies with 100 to 1000 quantum bits. This work will facilitate profound new scientific discoveries and also broadly impact the state of high-performance computing. To prepare the U.S. workforce for this revolution in computing, we need to educate citizens to think about computing from a quantum perspective, integrating concepts such as probability and uncertainty into the digital lexicon. The EPiQC Expedition will design teaching curricula and distribute exemplar materials for students ranging from primary school to engineers in industry. EPiQC will also establish an academic-industry consortium which will share educational and research products and accelerate the pace of quantum computing design and applications.
Because quantum computing is a new branch of computer science, it will require entirely new types of algorithms and software. In order to produce practical quantum computation in the near future, these elements cannot be developed in isolation. Instead, researchers must increase the efficiency of quantum algorithms running on quantum machines through the simultaneous design and optimization of algorithms, software and machines. New algorithms and software need to know what specific machine operations are easy or difficult in a given quantum technology and must be prepared to produce useful answers from imperfect results from imperfect machines. Software also needs to verify that the computation executed correctly as expected, an especially difficult task given that conventional machines cannot simulate even a modest-size quantum machine. The EPiQC Expedition unites experts on algorithms, software, architecture, and education to develop these elements in parallel. Overall, EPiQC will increase the efficiency of practical quantum computations by 100 to 1000 times, effectively bringing quantum computing out of the laboratory and into practical use 10-20 years sooner than through technology advances alone. The project identifies 4 thrusts: algorithmic innovations, compiler development, verification, and the broader impact tasks of developing education modules. The algorithmic tasks are organized into the subdomains of optimization, computational chemistry, and the discovery of separations between quantum and classical speedup. The compiler tasks are more milestone driven - development of technology libraries, development of various compilation techniques which leverages these libraries, as well as novel error correction schemes. The project will tie the tool chain closely to the underlying hardware and fault-tolerance mechanisms.
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.
PUBLICATIONS PRODUCED AS A RESULT OF THIS RESEARCH
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PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT
Disclaimer
This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.
The EPiQC Expedition focused on increasing the efficiency of practical applications on real physical quantum machines, as well as developing techniques to help verify the correctness of these applications andmachines. Specifically, one major goal was to decrease the number of quantum bits and operations that applications require on machines, as well as increase their probability of producing a correct result.
EPiQC achieved a combined improvement by a factor of 100 to 1000, which we estimate to be equivalent to 10 to 20 years of progress in hardware development. Consequently, EPiQC improvements will greatly accelerate the timeline for practical quantum computing.
EPiQC also had major goals in developing a new discipline and workforce for quantum computer systemsengineering. EPiQC developed curricular materials, research infrastructure, and outreach activities in order to build and sustain a pipeline of diverse researchers in this area.
Significant progress was made in realizing algorithmic and application-level optimizations, further integrating cross-layer optimization approaches into our software toolchain, and developing heuristic and formal methods for program and compiler verification.
EPiQC research explored optimizations at all levels of the quantum computing stack, from algorithms,programming languages, compilers, circuit optimization, to physical device control and measurement.outreach.
EPiQC published well over 150 papers (12 best paper awards), placed 6 alumni in faculty positions (Yale, UT Austin, Cambridge, Michigan, Northwestern, and Tufts), 5 patents granted, 7 pending, spun out a startupcompany (Super.tech, acquired by Infleqtion, formerly ColdQuanta), and published a textbook on QuantumComputer Systems Design (in the Morgan Claypool Synthesis series). EPiQC also created the QuantumComputing youtube channel, with over 100 videos and over 330K views.
Last Modified: 06/30/2025
Modified by: Peter W Shor
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