Investing in the Promise of Quantum
By Sally Kornbluth in MIT Technology Review
As MIT navigates a difficult and constantly changing higher education landscape, I believe our best response is not easy but simple: Keep doing our very best work. The presidential initiatives we’ve launched since fall 2024 are a vital part of our strategy to advance excellence within and across high-impact fields, from health care, climate, and education to AI and manufacturing—and now quantum. On December 8, we launched Quantum at MIT, or QMIT—the name rhymes with qubit, the basic unit of quantum information—to elevate MIT’s long-standing strengths in quantum science and engineering across computing, communication, and sensing.
More than 40 years ago, MIT helped kick off what is widely considered the second quantum revolution as host of the first Physics of Computation Conference at Endicott House, bringing together physics and computing researchers to explore the promise of quantum computing. Now we’re investing further in that promise.
Like all MIT’s strategic priorities, QMIT will help ensure that new technologies are used for the benefit of society. Faculty director Danna Freedman, the Frederick George Keyes Professor of Chemistry, is leading the initiative with a focus that extends beyond research and discovery to the way quantum technologies are developed and deployed. QMIT will enable scientists and engineers to co-develop quantum tools, generating unprecedented capabilities in science, technology, industry, and national security.
Although QMIT is a new initiative, it grew naturally from the Center for Quantum Engineering (CQE), created in 2019 to help bridge the gap between PIs at MIT and Lincoln Laboratory. A key to QMIT’s success will be integration with Lincoln Lab, with its deep and broad expertise in scaling and deployment.
And CQE has already gotten us started with industry collaborations through its Quantum Science and Engineering Consortium (QSEC), which brings together companies—from startups to large multinationals—that can help us realize positive, practical impact. We’re even envisioning a physical home for quantum at the heart of campus, a space for academic, industry, and public engagement with quantum systems.
As we set out for this new frontier, QMIT will allow us to shape the future of quantum, with a focus on solving “MIT-hard” problems. We hope that as the initiative evolves, our alumni and friends will be inspired to join us in supporting this exciting new effort to build on MIT’s quantum legacy.
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