Stony Brook Launches Quantum Institute, Advances Its National Leadership in Quantum Research and Networking

Eden Figueroa, endowed presidential professor of physics in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, speaking at the Quantum Networks Town Hall at SUNY Global in Manhattan earlier this month.

Led by Endowed Presidential Professor of Physics Eden Figueroa, the Quantum Institute will catalyze and accelerate an investment of $300M from NY State

Stony Brook University is taking another bold step to advance its state and national leadership in quantum research and networking with the launch of a new Quantum Institute.

President Andrea Goldsmith and Carl W. Lejuez, provost and executive vice president for academic affairs, announced last week that the Institute will be led by Eden Figueroa, endowed presidential professor of physics in the Department of Physics and Astronomy in the College of Arts and Sciences. Figueroa also holds a joint appointment with Brookhaven National Laboratory, and is a recognized national and international leader in quantum networking research.

"As we set a bold vision for Stony Brook's future, we will be a leader in solving the most pressing challenges facing humanity," saidGoldsmith. "This includes building on our leadership and excellence in groundbreaking research across a number of areas, including quantum communication.

"We are at the dawn of the quantum information age, similar to where wireless communication was when I started my wireless research career back in the late 1980s. Back then, phones had to connect to a socket in the wall to communicate. Today we take for granted that we can send a video or text a friend from small inexpensive phones in our pockets, but at the dawn of cellular technology, that notion seemed magical. Today sending quantum information anywhere in the world also seems magical, yet we have created that magic here at Stony Brook by building the largest quantum network in the country. The potential of quantum to revolutionize communication in ways we have not yet even envisioned is monumental."

Figueroa was selected to direct the Institute after consultation with a broad cohort of Stony Brook University faculty and leadership.

The Institute will catalyze and accelerate an investment of $300 million from the state and SUNY system. It will also be supported by $13 million announced by Goldsmith. Additional support for the Institute will come from university fundraising efforts.

The potential of quantum to revolutionize communication in ways we have not yet even envisioned is monumental. - Andrea Goldsmith

Designed to support interdisciplinary quantum research, across networking, computing, sensing and simulation, the Quantum Institute will offer competitive fellowships for students, postdoctoral scholars and visiting faculty.

The Institute will bring together faculty and students from a variety of core disciplines in the College of Arts and Sciences and the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences. It will foster collaborative opportunities that span the university, including the Renaissance School of Medicine and Stony Brook centers and institutes such as the Institute for Advanced Computational Science, the AI Innovation Institute and the Laufer Center.

Additionally, the Institute will host a quantum training and workforce center, collaborate with academic units in the creation of new curriculum and degree programs and house state-of-the-art teaching laboratories. The institute will support start-ups and other entrepreneurial efforts, as well as industry-sponsored research.

In parallel with the Institute's launch, the university will embark on an aggressive faculty cluster hiring plan to recruit up to 10 new faculty across Stony Brook's schools and colleges over the next two years.

"Eden is a highly accomplished scientist, inventor, entrepreneur, a deeply valued colleague and the kind of visionary who will lead Stony Brook and its partners in achieving our goal of becoming the epicenter of interdisciplinary quantum research," said Lejuez. "The Quantum Institute will anchor a global consortium that will spin out high-tech start-ups, fuel industry-sponsored research and forge deep international partnerships. Under Eden's leadership, it will ensure that Stony Brook expands its global leadership in the quantum revolution by hiring the best and brightest to Sony Brook and deepening our research collaborations with our partners at Brookhaven National Lab, SUNY and beyond."

"With colleagues from around the state and the country, we are making extraordinary progress toward the development of a viable quantum internet," said Figueroa, who is also director of the Center for Distributed Quantum Processing. "The Quantum Institute will boost Stony Brook's leadership in the Quantum Sciences through additional faculty expertise, expanded research facilities that will make our campus the first quantum-connected university in the U.S. and incredible opportunities for students and postdoctoral scholars to advance the frontiers of knowledge using a quantum lens. I am humbled and honored to be its first director. I look forward to making Stony Brook the home of the U.S. Quantum Internet of Things and to start new areas of quantum research with my esteemed Stony Brook colleagues."

New York State Governor Kathy Hochul announced the $300 million investment in a new Quantum Research and Innovation Hub in September. Photo by John Griffin.

The Institute marks the next phase of Stony Brook's quantum leadership, which has been a core area of research and investment at the university since 2018, and has expanded through significant support and investment from the State University of New York, the SUNY STRIVE initiative and Governor Kathy Hochul.

Hochul last fall announced the state will make a $300 million investment to establish the Quantum Research and Innovation Hub at Stony Brook. The first-of-its-kind hub will be the state's premier facility dedicated to leading-edge research and education in quantum science and technology, with a particular focus on quantum communication and networking.

"The Stony Brook Quantum Institute marks a transformative moment for New York State," said Andrew Singer, dean of the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences. "Engineers in the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences are advancing fault-tolerant quantum systems - integrating superconducting circuits, trapped atoms and photonics with CMOS platforms, and applying machine learning to accelerate scalable quantum technologies from discovery to real-world impact. Just as engineers transformed the transistor from laboratory curiosity to the foundation of the modern economy, we are committed to doing the same for quantum technology."

The 150,000-square-foot facility will house the Quantum Institute, the state's first hybrid Quantum Data Center at a university, and the Stony Brook Quantum Education Consortium, bringing together research, computing and workforce training to solve society's most complex challenges and build a faster, smarter and more secure internet. Already, the investment is supporting the expansion of the quantum internet testbed that originally linked Stony Brook, Brookhaven National Laboratory and the Brooklyn Navy Yard, to span more than 1,000 miles across New York State.

Since its founding in 1957, Stony Brook has been a leader in physics research, beginning with the Nobel Laureate CN "Frank" Yang, who joined the faculty in 1965 and paved the way for other brilliant scientists and promising students to come to the university.

"I am ecstatic to hear the news that Eden has been appointed director of the newly established Stony Brook Quantum Institute (SBQI), made possible by New York State's generous and momentous $300M investment," said Chang Kee Jung, chair and professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy in the College of Arts and Sciences. "Having closely watched Eden's heroic efforts over the past several years in developing a world-leading quantum internet at Stony Brook in collaboration with BNL and other institutions, I could not be happier or prouder of Eden's achievement and this appointment."

"I am also fully confident that under Eden's leadership SBQI will grow quickly and flourish," Jung continued. "This is another defining moment for Stony Brook University and for the Department of Physics and Astronomy. On behalf of the department, I extend my warmest congratulations to Eden and look forward to hearing about exciting discoveries and advancements from the institute on all fronts of QIST."

"Eight years ago, we recognized quantum science as a major frontier for Stony Brook," said Mónica Bugallo, interim vice president for research and innovation. "Today, with the launch of this Institute under Eden's leadership and with the support of Governor Hochul, we are helping ensure that New York remains at the center of this field for years to come."

"By bringing together world-class faculty and state of the art infrastructure, we are building a global hub for the next generation of quantum discoveries," she said.