IBM’s Quantum Computing Vision for the Future

Zhenya Crossman is constantly learning and strives to help people understand and use quantum computing to solve the world's most complex problems.

So she's excited that quantum computing will be in the spotlight this year. UNESCO announced 2025 International Year of Quantum Science and Technology. This is also 100th anniversary of the physicist Werner Heisenberg''On the quantum-theoretical interpretation of kinematic and mechanical connections“, the first published article about quantum mechanics.

Crossman, IEEE Fellow, Quantum Strategy Consultant at IBM V Germany. As a full-time employee, she coordinates and manages five working groups focused on developing quantum solutions for short-term problems in healthcare And life sciences, materials sciencehigh energy physics, optimization and sustainability.

She attended the sixth annual IEEE Quantum Weekheld from August 31 to September 5 in Albuquerque. This year's event, also known as IEEE International Conference on Quantum Computing and Engineeringmarked the first time that IBM– and experts and staff from community-created working groups publicly presented their research together.

“We received great feedback and insight into identifying commonalities between the groups,” Crossman says. “The audience needed to hear real-life examples to understand how quantum computing is applied in different scenarios and how it works.”

Crossman understands the importance of sharing research more than anyone because she works at the intersection of quantum computing research and its practical applications. The quantum field may seem scary, but you don't need to understand it to use a quantum computer, she says.

“Anyone can use it,” she says. “And if you know programming languages ​​such as Pythonyou can code a quantum computer.”

Quantum Computing Basics

IBM has a long history of working with quantum computing. IEEE Member Charles H. Bennettmember of IBM, called the father of quantum theory information theory because he wrote the first notes on this issue in 1970. In May 1981, IBM and WITH spent the first Computational Physics Conference.

“Quantum computing is often used to describe all quantum work,” including quantum science and quantum technology, Crossman says. This field uses a variety of technologies including sensors, meteorology and communications.

Classical computers use bits, and quantum computers use quantum bits called qubits. Qubits can exist in more than one state at the same time (both one and zero), which is known as the ability to exist in “superposition.”

Computers using qubits can store and process complex information and data faster and more efficiently, possibly using significantly less power than classical computers.

With so much power and computational capabilities, quantum computers are complex and still not fully understood. Crossman said engineers are working to make quantum computing more accessible to everyone so more people can understand how to work with the technology.

Inspired by her father and IEEE

Growing up on Boston's North Shore, Crossman spent many summer days poring over the latest issues of the newspaper. IEEE spectrum And Scientific American with his older sister. Her father Anthony CrossmanElectrical and Electronics Engineer and Life Member of IEEE. He often discussed scientific and engineering concepts with his daughters.

Looking back, Crossman says she sees reading Spectrum as her first introduction to how research is presented.

“I loved reading about new research and what it could do,” she says. “It helped me choose a career in engineering.”

When she entered McGill University In Montreal in 2011, to complete her bachelor's degree in physics, her father gave her a student membership in IEEE.

“Montreal is a beautiful, creative city that is relatively easy to get to from Boston in one day,” she says. “Additionally, the school was known for its physics program.”

After two years, she dropped out of school and moved to Paris, where she worked in a cafe. A year later, in 2014, she entered the physics department at University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

In the summer of 2016, Crossman's supervisor, professor Stefan Willockrecommended her for a research project in Laboratory of Microsystem Technologies within MIT Electrical Engineering Department.

“Quantum computing is often used to describe all quantum work, including quantum computing, quantum science, and quantum technology.”

“I was doing research” with Willock, she says, “and he knew I was thinking about doing electrical engineeringso he encouraged me to apply for a research opportunity this summer.”

As a research assistant she studied vehicles in transistors And diodes made with two-dimensional materials.

After graduating with a bachelor's degree in physics in 2017, she initially planned to go straight to graduate school, but wasn't sure what she wanted to focus on, she said. A friend and former classmate in a quantum mechanics course referred her to a position in quantum computing at Discards calculations in Berkeley, California.

She was hired as a junior quantum engineer. She started by creating the predecessor and then the blueprint for the company's first device database. She then designed, modeled and simulated quantum devices such as circuits for superconducting quantum computers, including those used in the first deployed quantum systems. She also operated a manufacturing plant in Berkeley.

In this position, she said, she learned a lot about electrical and microwave engineering, and it introduced her to computer modeling. She said this allowed her to better understand the practical applications of quantum computing. Her new knowledge made her “want to know why and how people use quantum technology,” she says, which is what got her interested in end-user needs.

To further her career, she left Righetti in 2020 and moved to Germany to pursue a double master's degree in Computing and Applied Technology. mathematics through a joint program between Delft University of Technology And Technical University of Berlin. She said when she first enrolled in the master's program, IBM recruiters offered her two jobs, but she turned it down because she wanted to complete her degree.

During my studies I worked with my mentor. Eliska Greplovaassociate professor of the department TU Delftwho invited Crossman to join her Quantum Matter and Artificial Intelligence Research Group. Crossman learned about condensed matter, machine learningand quantum learning, and she has participated in discussions about the implications of these technologies.

Although the experience was great, it ultimately led her to give up pursuing a PhD, she says, because she loved working in the industry and that's where she wanted to end up long-term.

She planned to focus her master's thesis on quantum computing from an end-user perspective, but switched to writing about integration topological properties of superconducting equipment.

She will graduate in 2022. In January 2023, she took a full-time job at IBM Research in Germany as a quantum strategy consultant supporting corporate clients. Her job has since evolved to lead technical collaboration, overseeing five quantum working groups.

She is also part of the team that oversees the company's responsible computing initiative. IBM defines responsible quantum computing as the type that “understands its consequences.” The company says it wants to ensure the development and use of quantum computing in accordance with its principles.

Created in 2022 by IBM and researchers from other organizations, the working groups are solving short-term problems and looking for quantum and interdisciplinary solutions in their field, Crossman said.

The groups are community-driven, with researchers in both quantum and non-quantum fields collaborating to identify key problems, decide what to do and pool their expertise to fill gaps, allowing them to look at problems holistically, she says. Groups regularly publish articles and make them publicly available.

Crossman's job is to support researchers, find resources, help them leverage the IBM ecosystem, and find experts who can answer niche questions. Her other focus is on end users, the people who will use the research results generated in the working groups. She says she strives to understand their needs and how best to support them.

“I really like quantum engineering and work with everyone because it’s an interdisciplinary field,” she says. “It combines problem solving and creativity. It's really at an exciting stage of development.”

With so much momentum, Crossman says she's excited to see where quantum technology goes next.

“When I started studying quantum mechanics as an undergraduate, there wasn’t a lot of information out there,” she says. “My career started when the quantum computing industry was just getting started. I'm very grateful for that.”

Stay up to date with research

IEEE membership allows Crossman to stay abreast of research in different fields, she said, and that's important because most of it is “becoming much more interdisciplinary, especially quantum computing.”

She says she looks forward to further collaboration with IEEE members working on quantum computing.

“I've always found IEEE useful,” she says. “I can learn about new research in my field and others, and I really enjoyed attending Quantum Week this year.”