QuantumLeap Updates -- Small Steps, Giant Ripples

(Above: screenshot from 2025 Chicago Quantum Summit page)

Dear QLeapers and friends,

Hope you all had a great summer! We’re excited to kick off the new semester with fresh leadership, strong collaborations, and plenty of momentum...


1. Meet QL’s New Leadership Team

We’re proud to introduce the students helping guide QL this year:

• Pres & Chief Programming Officer: Ariel Trusty (Junior, ECE)
• VP & Chief Partnerships Officer: Jesse Dance (Senior, CS)
• CTO: Kowshick “Josh” Srinivasan (Grad, CS)
• CFO: Marco Minetti (Sophomore, Engineering)
• CMO: Zane Winders (Sophomore, Cybersecurity)

2. Summer Highlights (Right...We didn't dicohere :)

MAY
We hosted Alejandra Castillo (PNW Sr. Fellow for Econ. Dev.) and Jennifer Wonder (Purdue Asst. VP for Strategic Initiatives), joined by Catharine Olsen (PNW Chief of Staff) and Prof. Grace Yang (PNW CS Dept. Chair). Together we explored opportunities for new quantum-related collaborations across disciplines as well as Purdue campuses.

JUNE
We joined our counterparts from UIC, UChicago, UW-Madison, and Yale in hosting Nick Farina, Co-Founder & CEO of EeroQ, for a talk on the Business of Quantum Tech at the Union League Club of Chicago.


JULY
We hosted PNW Provost Marie Mora and CES Dean José Sánchez during a joint planning session with our colleagues from five other campuses in order to support CQE’s launch of the first annual Midwest Quantum Week. That effort is already bearing fruit -- our programs are now featured on the Chicago Quantum Summit page! (Please scroll down just past the Sponsors.)


AUGUST
And finally, a couple of weeks ago, we spent 4 days at PWL for an NSF-funded summer school focusing on quantum computing for materials science and chemistry (QC4MC).

"The sum is greater than the parts!"

3. Looking Ahead

Next week, I and many of our colleagues will be at IEEE Quantum Week in Albuquerque, NM. Expect a full report of insights, contacts, and opportunities in our next newsletter or upcoming meeting.

And don’t forget: more QL programs and activities are on the horizon. So stay tuned!


Entangledly Yours,
Shawn

PS – I hope to see many of you in one of our two brand-new quantum courses this fall -- Our Quantum Future and Intro to QC -- on Monday, or at a Weekly Quantum Meetup of ours starting Friday!