Federal Grant Award Summary

The University of Tennessee received a $300,000 Early-Concept Grant for Exploratory Research (EAGER) award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) Division of Civil, Mechanical, and Manufacturing Innovation under the Engineering program (CFDA 47.041), effective April 1, 2026 through March 31, 2028. This project develops practical guidance and open-source tools for leveraging near-term quantum computing resources to solve stochastic optimization problems in high-uncertainty domains such as energy, transportation, and supply chain management. The research will produce empirically grounded "guardrails" identifying which problem structures are amenable to quantum-enabled methods, along with benchmarks and software that broaden participation in this emerging field.

The primary deliverables include validated stochastic formulations for two-stage stochastic programs with linear uncertainty, implementation and evaluation of scenario encoding strategies, procedures for generating high-quality candidate solutions through quantum sampling, and comprehensive scaling and noise-robustness studies across benchmark families. The project will produce phase-diagram-style summaries linking instance structure, encoding choices, penalty parameters, and solution quality to establish when quantum computing provides practical advantages. Additionally, the work will train graduate researchers and release open-source tools and benchmarks to accelerate impact and inform methods relevant to national defense logistics and more resilient planning in critical infrastructure sectors.