Introducing Schrödinger's Papers

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Hey Guys, 

I wanted to let you know of a new project at Quantum Foundry.

I’m on the lookout for guest contributors and Quantum computing students and recent PhDs and others to stimulate insights into papers, industry trends, showcase personal experiences and give us more educational content and diverse perspectives.

So in my opinion, a real Newsletter on QC needs a youthful multifaceted perspectives of people who actually work and study in the field! 

One of my favorite young people on LinkedIn in the space is María Gragera Garcés. She produces some of the most relevant posts on Quantum computing I have seen yet from a University student (honestly anyone). I highly recommend you follow her on LinkedIn and now you can follow her here on Quantum Foundry in her own column. 

So without further adieu, Maria is our first Quantum Foundry student who is launching their own column! She will have complete editorial control over what she’d like to share their.

New Columns Appearing on Quantum Foundry 

She will be sharing some Quantum computing related papers and helping us understand them for lay audiences in  Schrödinger's Papers.

Here is how she describes it:

Schrödinger's Papers

Welcome to Schrödinger's Papers! This column is dedicated to the analysis of scientific papers in the Quantum information science sphere. Every two weeks we will look at fundamental or revolutionizing papers that affect quantum technologies. Through the different issues we will try to explain the proposals in scientific papers to a non-technical audience, thus making quantum science more accessible for all. Feel free to join us on this journey!

Finally, we did a short Q&A in full below. Don’t forget to follow Maria’s posts and insights on LinkedIn here.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/maria-gragera-garces/recent-activity/shares/

Currently residing in the U.K., on LinkedIn Maria says she talks about #quantumleap, #simulations, #quantumtechnologies, and #quantumcommunication.

Q&A with MGG

Question: Where are you now on your journey in Quantum computing studies and academics?

María Gragera Garcés: I am currently studying an undergraduate in Mathematics and Physics, which allowed me to build my knowledge of Quantum physics, Quantum mechanics and Hilbert spaces. As a part of my degree, I chose to take a year in industry. Throughout this year I worked in Cisco’s R&D Quantum technologies incubation team, where I participated in their Quantum Networking research. Thanks to this outstanding opportunity I built my current understanding and knowledge of quantum technologies.

As I am finalizing my last few months at Cisco, I look forward to working on my next projects that range from Quantum software to Quantum consulting, and Quantum content creation.

Question: How did you know that you wanted to enter Maths, Physics and even Quantum networking?

MGG: I think the most honest answer is that I didn’t, I just ended up there and loved it. I had always greatly enjoyed mathematics in school, and when it came to degree choosing, I decided to apply to strong mathematics programs. Ironically, I didn’t really think about physics being a strong contender in my choices, but when I was accepted into Bath’s dual program, I decided to take up the challenge.

This choice led me to my initiation in the Quantum networking field through Cisco. I had an interest in the technology, after all its constantly over the news, but I would say that it was more of a hype rather than a career choice for me at the beginning. But as I started to work in the field, I completely fell in love with the challenges surrounding the technology as well as the fascinating science behind it.

Question: What is the Quantum computing scene like in the U.K, Bath and London? What are you most excited about?

MGG: There is a strong growing community of Quantum start-ups and ecosystems currently flourishing in the UK. Most strong physics faculties already have well established Quantum technology research focused groups, and it seems that a new start up appears every week. Everyone from venture capitalists to software engineers is growing conscious of this exciting new market that will (hopefully) revolutionize our current technologies.

Even the UK government is conscious of the power that quantum computers will hold. On that note, a few days ago the UK's Ministry of Defence signed a contract with ORCA, who’s CTO tough me Quantum physics at university, to build them a photonic quantum computing system.

Obviously, this is extremely exciting, as it showcases that the UK is interested in quantum tech and are willing to support and invest in its development. My hope is that as a community we make this very complex science into an accessible and welcoming field for all.

Question: How are you combining the evolution of your “personal brand” towards the Quantum Computing industry and its future?

MGG: I’m a big fan of promoting news, companies, articles, and my work on LinkedIn. I think there is a strong belief that only high-end researchers with decades of experience can contribute to the field, and even though they are most definitely very valuable resources for the development of quantum computing, anyone, regardless of their technical skills, can support and contribute to the development of these technologies. I hope to promote this idea through example on my platform.

Question: You wake up in 2027, what are you ideally working on and who are you working for?

MGG: What a great question! Well firstly I hope that the technology is still supported by industrial bodies in 2027. But jokes aside, a lot of my current work and background is in Quantum software simulations, and so I hope to be working on Quantum software that will help strengthen and support the field in 2027.

I think Quantum probability allows for a revolution in existing AI prediction models, and I hope that I will be able to contribute to that revolution through my career.

Question: Please introduce to us your GitHub project? 

MGG: I initially built this repository as a way to track the papers I read through my Quantum journey. But as the end of the 2021/2022 academic year approached, I thought sharing the repository with my network would be a good way to showcase how an academic year in read papers might look like for a Quantum networking enthusiast. There was a lot of support for the project, so I am now working on expanding the library by creating an additional branch that allows for anyone to submit their recommended reads to the repository. 

If you’re interested in sharing your favourite Quantum technology papers, please feel free to check out the project and push your papers to the Recommended-reads branch (there are further instructions in the project’s open issues section).

https://github.com/mgg39/Quantum-tech-papers

Question: What sorts of papers in the field most interest you and why? 

MGG: I really like hardware blueprint papers, as they often contain overviews and proposals of how the fundamental parts of a Quantum system should be built. They begin interesting logistical conversations and make the reader consider new factors that might affect the long-term design of these machines throughout their generations. They also usually point towards crucial papers that strongly impacted the research behind Quantum systems.

Question: Finally, how do you see the future of quantum computing playing out in the decades ahead?

MGG: I think that the promised computational power that quantum computing will bring to the table will undoubtedly revolutionize most industries. It will allow for medical and scientific discoveries, whilst improving the efficiency of automated supply chains, machine learning, self-driving cars, …

I am also excited to see the collateral discoveries that will emerge from the field. We did not work on space travel to build microwaves, but here we are, with a microwave in every home, an arguably more useful appliance to the average person than NASA’s rockets….

Thanks for reading!

Where is the cat? Here for now.

Thanks so much to Maria for being our first Student Voice & Guest Contributor on Quantum Foundry, hopefully the first of many.