Scialog QMI Awards $1.1M to Quantum Innovation Researchers
Tucson Conference funds seven ‘Game-Changing’ quantum teams
The Simons Foundation, Brinson Foundation, RCSA, and millionaire Kevin Wells announced the first Scialog: Quantum Matter and Information (QMI) grantees. This ambitious project seeks to bridge quantum science communities. 19 young academics from seven interdisciplinary teams will get funding for high-risk, high-reward investigations that could change our understanding of the quantum cosmos.
From October 16–19, 2025, 57 fellows from physics, chemistry, materials science, computer science, and engineering attended a rigorous four-day meeting in Tucson, Arizona. Over $1.1 million has been financed for the first year of the three-year project, with each winning researcher receiving $60,000 in direct costs.
Strategy for Quantum Exploration
Due to quantum research's revolutionary nature, RCSA President & CEO Eric Isaacs believes this Scialog could offer game-changing insights. QMI launched when the UN declared 2025 the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology, a turning point for the subject.
Isaacs contrasted recent Nobel Prizes to Fellows work. He noted that fundamental research in macroscopic quantum phenomena was recently awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics, demonstrating that this discipline is now crucial for computing and solving global problems. He linked the project to the Nobel Prize in Economics by citing creative destruction, where new technology drives long-term prosperity and transforms society and the economy.
Scialog—“science + dialog.”—aims to eliminate accidental discovery. The program brings together synthesis and systems experts to enhance predictable, rigorous experimental design.
Keynote: Fractional Charges to Gravitational Waves
Two conference keynote speakers set the tone for multidisciplinary collaboration. In his address, “The Angst and Ennui of Measuring Zero,” Rana Adhikari from the California Institute of Technology discussed the challenges of accurate measurement. Adhikari, a LIGO project leader, discussed the challenges of reducing systematic and random noise in gravitational wave detectors. He also noted the very high frequency of binary black hole detections compared to neutron star mergers and suggested using frequency-dependent squeezing and deep learning for feedback control.
Columbia University's Xiaoyang Zhu's second keynote talk was on “Fractional Charges and Where to Find Them”. Zhu calls time-domain pump-probe spectroscopy a “treasure map” for quantum phase location. He highlighted the discovery of similar phenomena in twisted bilayer graphene, which can show charges without magnetic fields. His research focuses on fractional charges created by high magnetic fields, like the fractional quantum Hall effect.
Innovation Collaboration Awards
Teams that submitted creative, interdisciplinary projects on the last morning of the conference won 2025. Winners' project members:
Quantum Differential Spectroscopy: Mapping Solid Entanglement: Led by Yao Wang (Emory University), Fang Liu (Stanford University), and Alex Frañó (UCSD).
Xueyue (Sherry) Zhang (Columbia University) and Timothy Su (UC Riverside) worked on Spin-Photon Interfaces in Molecular Silicon Clusters.
Luis Jáuregui (UC Irvine), Alex Frañó (UC San Diego), Ceren Dag (Indiana University Bloomington), and Elizabeth Goldschmidt (UIUC) discuss optical defects as internal correlation probes in quantum sensing.
Cornell's Youn Jue (Eunice) Bae, Washington's Serena Eley, and Boston's Kazuki Ikeda researched skyrmion-antiskyrmion quantum entanglement.
Reconfigurable ferron networks were used to create terahertz quantum interconnects by Stanford University's Fang Liu, Arizona State University's Sandhya Susarla, and North Carolina State University's Ruijuan Xu
Researchers Yonglong Xie (Rice University) and Yao Wang (Emory University) used scanning charge-noise spectroscopy to visualize fractional excitation entanglement.
Loss of Photonic Entanglement: A Novel Probe of Classical and Quantum Spin Dynamics in Materials is led by Hendrik Utzat (UC Berkeley), Lilia Xie (Princeton University), and Fabio Anza (UMBC).
Consideration of Future
Funder collaboration was another key concern. Quantum research will likely benefit several scientific domains, according to Jamie Bender of The Brinson Foundation.
The second Scialog: Quantum Matter and Information gathering is October 15–18, 2026, for those interested in joining this growing network. Early-career researchers must apply before April 1, 2026.
