Quantum expert joins ECE faculty
Quantum expert joins ECE faculty Heading link
Lane Gunderman joined the electrical and computer engineering department this fall as an assistant professor. He holds a BS in physics and math from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and his PhD in physics from the University of Waterloo’s Institute for Quantum Computing, where he worked on theory related to quantum error-correcting codes and hybrid quantum devices.
Gunderman, originally from the Chicago area, worked as a quantum error-correction researcher at Xanadu Quantum Technology after graduation and, most recently, as a research scientist with HRL Laboratories.
Gunderman was drawn to quantum computing because it utilizes concepts from physics, math, computer science, electrical engineering, and many other areas, to create a potentially transformative technology.
“There’s the continual speed up of what we can do classically on a computer, but we’re kind of hitting a limit there,” Gunderman said. “We’re hoping that by leveraging some unique quantum properties, we can solve much harder, bigger problems.”
Gunderman said that random mistakes can happen during computations, even on classical computers. For example, a value gets flipped due to a solar flare from the sun. With quantum computing, more issues can pop up since the scale is much smaller and more sensitive.
“I work on the math related to how to correct those sorts of mistakes, especially in more exotic cases,” Gunderman said. “Beyond that, my work specializes more in maximizing the computing ability with the number of qubits you have.”
While a classical computer works with zero and one, some kinds of quantum systems can have multiple levels that can be used for computation; as many as 20 levels have been achieved. Gunderman focuses on utilizing as much computing power as possible.
This fall, Gunderman will be teaching ECE 341, Probability and Random Processes for Engineers. He is looking forward to collaborating with other faculty members and hopes to take on several students, especially undergraduates.