Photo of JILA Graduate Student Joanna Lis
This year’s Q2B (Quantum 2 Business) conference took place on December 7-9 at the Santa Clara Convention Center. Several big names spoke at the event, and it was a place to forge new partnerships and connections. For one lucky JILAn, the trip to this conference was sponsored by CUbit Quantum Initiative, (CUbit). "I am very grateful to Women in Quantum and CUbit for sponsoring me to attend the Q2B conference," Joanna Lis said. Lis is a graduate student within JILA Fellow Adam Kaufman's laboratory. "My research is looking at neutral atoms in tweezers. I was positively surprised on how much presence neutral atom platforms had within the conference," she added.
While the Q2B conference was established in part by the organization Women in Quantum, the conference was open to all. From networking lunches to discussions about the latest developments from some of the biggest names in the industry, the conference was a big hit. "It was an amazing opportunity to get familiar with the industry side of the pursuits in quantum computation," added Lis. "Some pretty impressive results were presented, but also just hearing about what the quantum computing companies are planning for the future was very interesting." The conference hosted many leading companies in the quantum computing industry, including Atom Computing, Ion Q, Quantinuum, QC Ware, and Quantum Delta NL.
At the conferences Lis found herself meeting other women within the quantum community. "My favorite part of the event was the first day, which was the Women in Quantum summit," She explained. Women in Quantum is a global non-profit organization led by Denise Ruffner of Atom Computing. The organization's goal is to support women and their careers within the quantum industry while helping to promote diversity. According to Lis: "The day was filled with talks from women who now work in the quantum industry, followed by a networking session. Hearing about their journeys, how they got where they are, the positive experiences and challenges they faced, was deeply inspirational. A common denominator for a lot of the talks was a call to make space for empathy within the quantum research/industry community. I think we can all strive towards that goal."
To learn more about the Q2B conference, click here.
The Physics Frontiers Centers (PFC) program supports university-based centers and institutes where the collective efforts of a larger group of individuals can enable transformational advances in the most promising research areas. The program is designed to foster major breakthroughs at the intellectual frontiers of physics by providing needed resources such as combinations of talents, skills, disciplines, and/or specialized infrastructure, not usually available to individual investigators or small groups, in an environment in which the collective efforts of the larger group can be shown to be seminal to promoting significant progress in the science and the education of students. PFCs also include creative, substantive activities aimed at enhancing education, broadening participation of traditionally underrepresented groups, and outreach to the scientific community and general public.