University of Calgary Launches Institute for Quantum Science and Technology

The University of Calgary has announced the creation of the Institute for Quantum Science and Technology (IQST), a unit dedicated to research, training and outreach in the field of quantum science.

The institute will focus on themes of quantum optics, quantum information, molecular modeling and nanotechnology. The 100-member IQST is one of only three such institutes in Canada, along with facilities at the universities of Waterloo and Toronto.

“The IQST builds on four formidable research strengths at the university,” said professor Barry Sanders, director of the IQST and Alberta Innovates-Technology Futures Chair of Quantum Information Science. “By uniting them under a single umbrella, we are creating a collaborative and interdisciplinary environment that will yield far greater outcomes than if each discipline operated independently.”

The institute was established by the Faculty of Science and will draw on resources from the departments of chemistry, computer science, mathematics and statistics, as well as physics and astronomy.

The IQST and its research teams receive approximately $2 million dollars annually in federal and provincial government grants as well as industry funding. For the next two years, the institute’s operational expenses will be supported by Alberta Innovates-Technologies Futures’ Innovates Centre of Research Excellence, which has committed $150,000 annually.

For more information, visit: www.iqst.ca