| NSF Org: |
OAC Office of Advanced Cyberinfrastructure (OAC) |
| Recipient: |
|
| Initial Amendment Date: | August 29, 2019 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | August 29, 2019 |
| Award Number: | 1917383 |
| Award Instrument: | Standard Grant |
| Program Manager: |
Rob Beverly
OAC Office of Advanced Cyberinfrastructure (OAC) CSE Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering |
| Start Date: | September 1, 2019 |
| End Date: | August 31, 2021 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $100,000.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $100,000.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
|
| History of Investigator: |
|
| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
2601 WOLF VILLAGE WAY RALEIGH NC US 27695-0001 (919)515-2444 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
|
| Primary Place of Performance: |
890 Oval Dr. Raleigh NC US 27695-8602 |
| Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
|
| Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
|
| Parent UEI: |
|
| NSF Program(s): | CYBERINFRASTRUCTURE |
| Primary Program Source: |
|
| Program Reference Code(s): |
|
| Program Element Code(s): |
|
| Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.070 |
ABSTRACT
The project aims to transform the landscape of computing by establishing and advancing quantum computing as a means of computational acceleration by developing curricular materials that uses actual quantum hardware. The effort has the potential significantly advance the knowledge about quantum computing of the scientific community in general and within the areas of Computer Science and Engineering specifically.
This project will utilize free cloud-based access to a gate-based platform to provide hands-on experience with programming actual quantum hardware. Curricular material will include the fundamentals in physics and mathematics required to understand quantum computing, introductory material to the quantum field, and the programming environment for a cloud-based platform. The PIs will also develop training material suitable for tutorials at major conferences/symposia across different fields as well as online courses for faculty, staff and students. As a means to gauge success, the suitability of the material will be thoroughly evaluated statistically via surveys at the end of educational units for both classes and tutorials.
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
Note:
When clicking on a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) number, you will be taken to an external
site maintained by the publisher. Some full text articles may not yet be available without a
charge during the embargo (administrative interval).
Some links on this page may take you to non-federal websites. Their policies may differ from
this site.
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.
Final Outcome
=============
Quantum Computing (QC) has reached an early state of device maturity
with the availability of several hardware platforms and corresponding
programming environments. The potential of QC is significant as
algorithms, such as Shor's prime factoring, have
the potential to break the barriers of classical complexity
classes and thus provide "quantum supremacy" for such algorithms.
Meanwhile, quantum hardware is currently undergoing rapid improvements
in data size (number of quantum bits or "qubits"), length of a
quantum program (constrained by number of operations before qubits
become decoherent), and error rates. Some of these quantum platforms
are becoming available as free or paid tier computing facilities in
the cloud. This trend is complemented by the availability of quantum
programming environments that integrate well with classical
programming languages, such as Python. As a result, quantum computing
as a research discipline as well as curricular development of courses
is becoming feasible for any department (not only Computer
Science/Engineering), yet foundational educational material
and widespread access to advanced quantum hardware remain a challenge
today.
Intellectual Merits:
The project has provided significant contributions in terms of
developing curricular material, making it publicly available,
educating students, researchers and teachers via classes and
tutorials. The materials cover a graduate Computer Science/Electrical
and Computer Engineering (CS/ECE) class and an equivalent
undergraduate class with lecture modules (slides), videos and
simulated as well as hands-on exercises on quantum hardware
devices. The material was directly exposed to 400-500 precipitants and
remains highly referenced through its online portal.
Research contributions include an approach to consolidate the two main
quantum hardware paradigms, namely gate-based and annealing quantum
devices, in one software abstraction for specific domains. This has
been demonstrated for constraint satisfaction problems thus
far. Additional contributions have been made to reduce the noise in
contemporary quantum devices programmatically with concrete benefits
shown for IBM Q devices.
Broader Impact:
The project has brought quantum computing to a larger audience than
before. In particular, CS and ECE students were exposed to the
fundamental concepts on a more practical and programmatic methodology
than was the case before, including their exposure to actual quantum
hardware devices.
The educational efforts have resulted in curricular material and
tutorials that are freely available online, and they have educated a
large number of students and researchers in the field as a first step
to develop a quantum workforce, including a strong tie to industry
(particularly IBM).
Last Modified: 09/27/2021
Modified by: Frank Mueller
Please report errors in award information by writing to: awardsearch@nsf.gov.
