The National Science Foundation Office of Integrative Activities awarded Bowdoin College $235,973 on February 1, 2027, under the EPSCOR Research Fellows program to support research on quantum advantage in random quantum Hamiltonians.
The fellowship will provide support to an assistant professor at Bowdoin College and training for an undergraduate student. The research addresses algorithmic questions about random quantum Hamiltonians—canonical models in many-body physics and leading candidates for problems where quantum computers may outperform classical computing approaches. The project focuses on three areas: identifying when analytic methods can provably approximate free energy and thermal properties; analyzing geometric structures to produce sharp algorithmic thresholds for sampling, optimization, and state preparation; and implementing saddle point solvers for systems of partial differential equations arising from replica analyses.
Work is conducted in collaboration with Dr. David Gamarnik at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, with place of performance in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The project runs through January 31, 2029, and is structured to expand research capacity in quantum information science in Maine while preparing undergraduate researchers for careers in STEM through connection to the Boston area research ecosystem.