SUNY Poly’s Grace Wang selected for quantum initiative advisory committee

Grace Wang, interim president of SUNY Polytechnic Institute in Marcy. (PHOTO CREDIT: SUNY POLYTECHNIC WEBSITE)

MARCY — Grace Wang, interim president of SUNY Polytechnic Institute (SUNY Poly) in Marcy, has been named to the National Quantum Initiative Advisory Committee (NQIAC).  The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) selected Wang to join the committee, the school said in an Aug. 31 announcement on its website.  Besides her role […]

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MARCY — Grace Wang, interim president of SUNY Polytechnic Institute (SUNY Poly) in Marcy, has been named to the National Quantum Initiative Advisory Committee (NQIAC). 

The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) selected Wang to join the committee, the school said in an Aug. 31 announcement on its website. 

Besides her role as interim president of SUNY Poly, Wang also serves as SUNY’s senior vice chancellor for research and economic development.

The committee also includes instructors and officials from schools that include Morgan State University in Baltimore, Maryland; University of Chicago; University of Washington; Harvard University; Duke University; and the University of Maryland, per an Aug. 28 news release from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).

 The National Quantum Initiative Advisory Committee also includes James Clarke, director of quantum hardware at Intel Corp.; Marissa Giustina, a senior research scientist at Google, LLC; and several others. Committee members represent industry, universities, federal laboratories, and other federal-government agencies.

The NQIAC will counsel the Trump Administration on ways to ensure “continued American leadership” in quantum information science (QIS), the DOE said.

“We look forward to engaging with the entire U.S. innovation ecosystem to advance quantum research and innovation for the betterment of our Nation,” Michael Kratsios, U.S. chief technology officer, said in a statement.

President Trump established the NQIAC by executive order as part of the National Quantum Initiative Act of 2018. The legislation accelerated QIS research and development investment and policy coordination across the federal government.

The NQIAC will be co-chaired by Dr. Charles Tahan, OSTP assistant director for quantum information science and director of the national quantum coordination office, and Kathryn Ann Moler, dean of research at Stanford University. 

The first NQIAC meeting is tentatively scheduled for October 2020, with additional details to come.

The OSTP and DOE also recently announced up to $625 million over five years for the establishment of five quantum research centers, “delivering on the National Quantum Initiative Act’s call to stand up new QIS centers nationwide,” per the DOE. 

Eric Reinhardt: