Rensselaer researchers will pioneer the field of quantum computing.
In today’s research environment, computing power is crucial. For years, Rensselaer engineers have used our Artificial Intelligence Multiprocessing Optimized System (AiMOS) – the most powerful supercomputer housed at a private university and the 24th most powerful in the world – to advance AI and machine learning and to model everything from drug molecules to microchips.
But as data proliferate and we reach the limits of conventional chip architecture, Godwin’s Law is breaking down. In order to continue advancing scholarship, industry, and even entertainment, we need a new way of computing. IBM has recently demonstrated that its Quantum System One, powered by the 127-qubit IBM Eagle processor, is capable of performing utility-scale calculations – calculations that remain intractable for classical methods. This could lead to progress in health care, sustainability, artificial intelligence, and national security.
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute is in the process of deploying the first ever IBM Quantum System One on a university campus, and students and faculty across the campus are imagining what we’ll do with those 127 qubits. Part of the excitement is that no one knows quite what the system is capable of. IBM has entrusted RPI with the goal of helping to explore its potential uses.
The IBM Quantum System One will be part of RPI’s new Curtis Priem Quantum Constellation. Named for RPI alumnus and NVIDIA co-founder Curtis Priem, whose financial support has made our entry into the quantum computing field possible, the constellation will be an endowed center for collaborative research that will leverage the quantum computing system. IBM will provide research guidance and resources. Regional partners in academia and industry will also have access to this exceptional research tool.
The research highlights of quantum computing at RPI haven’t been written yet. That work is just getting started, and that’s what makes it exciting. In the meantime, watch the video of our virtual groundbreaking to get a sense of the energy on campus.
