Exploring the Quantum Universe – a Fermilab Quantum Symposium
December 4-5, 2025
This two-day event celebrates the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology by bringing together leading scientific experts, students, institutional leaders from government labs, academia and industry, funding agencies, Congress representatives and the public to reflect on the latest advances and future directions in quantum science, technology and applications. Hosted at Fermilab, headquarter of the SQMS Center, a Department of Energy National Quantum Information Science Research Center, the event will feature two days of lectures, tutorials, keynote talks, roundtable discussions and breakout technical sessions, poster sessions, interactive laboratory tours, live demonstrations, and public celebrations highlighting the latest advances in quantum computing, communication, and sensing. Friday evening, December 5, will conclude with a public lecture from a distinguished QIS leader.
Participation by invitation or approved application only
Confirmed Speakers Include
Keynote Talk
Prof. Peter Shor, MIT
Distinguished Speakers and Lecturers:
Dr. Jay Gambetta, IBM
Dr. Jun Ye, University of Colorado Boulder
Sir Peter Knight, Imperial College London
Dr. James Kushmerik, NIST
Dr. Subodh Kulkarni, Rigetti Computing
Department of Energy (TBA)
Dr. Florent Lecocq, NIST
Dr. Anna Grassellino, Fermilab
Dr. Chuck Black, Brookhaven National Lab
Prof. Mikhail Lukin, Harvard University
Prof. Andreas Wallraff, ETH Zurich
Dr. Itamar Sivan, Quantum Machines
Dr. Eleanor Rieffel, NASA Ames Research Center
Dr. Andrew Bestwick, Rigetti Computing
Dr. Travis Humble, Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Dr. Bert De Jong, Berkeley National Laboratory
Dr. Martin Holt, Argonne National Laboratory
Tentative Agenda
Thursday, December 4, 2025
Location: Fermilab – Ramsey Auditorium and Wilson Hall
Start Time: 8:30 AM
Morning program – educational lectures and tutorials
8.30 AM – 12:30 PM | Ramsey Auditorium
8:30 AM – 8:35 AM | Welcome Remarks – Young-Kee Kim (Interim Director, Fermilab)
8:35 AM – 8:50 AM | Quantum Efforts at the DOE Office of Science – Bindu Nair (Associate Director for DOE Basic Energy Sciences)
8:50 AM – 9:50 AM | National Quantum Centers: Coordination, Impact, and the Path to the Quantum Future – Moderated by Bindu Nair
Panelists: Directors of the National Quantum Information Science Research Centers – Chuck Black (Brookhaven National Laboratory), Bert de Jong (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory), Anna Grassellino (Fermilab), Martin Holt (Argonne National Laboratory), Travis Humble (Oak Ridge National Laboratory)
9:50 AM – 10:15 AM | Coffee Break
10:15 AM – 11:00 AM | Keynote Talk – Jun Ye (JILA/NIST/CU Boulder)
11:00 AM – 12:30 PM | Breakout Sessions
Track 1: Quantum 101
11:00 AM – 11:05 AM | Introduction & Welcome to Quantum School – Silvia Zorzetti (Fermilab)
11:05 AM – 11:50 AM | Fundamentals of Quantum Computing – Eleanor Rieffel (NASA Ames Research Center)
11:50 AM – 12:30 PM | Introduction to Quantum Technology: Status & Challenges – Florent Lecocq (NIST Boulder)
Track 2: Quantum Technology
11:00 AM – 12:30 PM | Battling Decoherence Part I – Akshay Murthy (Fermilab), Dave Pappas (Rigetti Computing), Martin Weides (University of Glasgow), Faranak Bahrami (Princeton University), Sebastian de Graaf (National Physics Laboratory), Lara Faoro (Google)
Track 3: Quantum Applications
11:00 AM – 12:30 PM | Algorithms, Simulation & Benchmarking at the Utility-Scale Part I – Andrew Sornborger (Los Alamos National Laboratory), David McKay (IBM), Shraddha Singh (IBM), Matt Otten (University of Wisconsin Madison), Jeff Larson (Argonne National Laboratory), Yigit Subasi (Los Alamos National Laboratory)
12:30 PM – 1:30 PM | Lunch
1:45 PM – 4:45 PM | Breakout Sessions
Track 1: Quantum 101
2:00 PM – 4:45 PM | Industry tutorials
IBM: Qiskit Demo
Rigetti: Qubit Measurements and Quantum Processors
Quantum Machines: Quantum Controls: Calibration of Superconducting Qubits
Maybell: Dilution Refrigerator Technology for QIS
Track 2: Quantum Technology
1:45 PM – 2:45 PM | Battling Decoherence Part II – Jurgen Lisenfeld (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology), John Saunders (Royal Holloway University London), James Rondinelli (Northwestern University), Jim Sauls (Louisiana State University)
2:45 PM – 4:45 PM | Hardware, Communication, Controls for Scaling Part I – Tanay Roy (Fermilab), Mike Hatridge (Yale University), Serge Rosenblum (Weizmann Institute of Science), Nicholas Frattini (Nord Quantique), Srivatsan Chakram (Rutgers University), Yao Lu (Fermilab), Johannes Fink (Institute of Science & Technology, Austria), Wolfgang Pfaff (University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign)
Track 3: Quantum Applications
1:45 PM – 2:45 PM | Algorithms, Simulation & Benchmarking at the Utility-Scale Part II – Riccardo Lattanzi (NYU Langone Health), Sofia Vallecorsa (CERN), Christian Bauer (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory), Hank Lamm (Fermilab)
2:45 PM – 4:45 PM | Sensing Part I – Gianpaolo Carosi (Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory), Caterina Braggio (INFN), Alexandre May (CEA Saclay), Aaron Chou (Fermilab), Bianca Giaccone (Fermilab), Krisztian Peters (DESY), Adrian Lupascu (University of Waterloo)
4:45 PM – 5:15 PM | Coffee Break
Track 1: Quantum 101
5:15 PM – 5:45 PM | Quantum Processors Gates and Architectures – Andrew Bestwick (Rigetti Computing)
5:45 PM – 6:15 PM | Quantum Computing Applications: Quantum Chemistry – Travis Humble (Oak Ridge National Laboratory)
Track 2: Quantum Technology
5:15 PM – 6:30 PM | Hardware, Communication, Controls for Scaling Part II – Jason Orcutt (IBM), Rajkumar Kettimuthu (Argonne National Laboratory), Cristian Pena (Fermilab), Jonathan Marcks (Argonne National Laboratory), Gustavo Cancelo (Fermilab)
Track 3: Quantum Applications
5:15 PM – 6:15 PM | Sensing Part II – Prineha Narang (UCLA), Peter Maurer (University of Chicago), Tim Kovachy (Northwestern University), Jake Covey (University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign)
Evening Program – Poster session and reception
6:15 – 7:45 PM | Wilson Hall Atrium – Poster session showcasing research across the international quantum ecosystem, early career researchers awards, and networking reception with refreshments
Friday, December 5, 2025
Location: Fermilab – Ramsey Auditorium and Wilson Hall
Start Time: 8:30 AM
Morning Program – Quantum Symposium Talks
8:30 AM – 1:00 PM | Ramsey Auditorium
8:30 – 8:35 AM | Introductory remarks & Goals for Day – Anna Grassellino (Fermilab)
8:35 – 8:45 AM | Remarks on International Year of Quantum – Sir Peter Knight (Imperial College, London)
8:45 – 9:45 AM | Keynote Talk: Peter Shor (MIT)
9:45 – 10:25 AM | Invited Talk: Jay Gambetta (IBM)
10:25 – 10:55 AM | Coffee break
10:55 – 11:35 AM | Invited Talk: Mikhail Lukin (Harvard University)
11:35 – 12:15 PM | Invited Talk: Andreas Wallraff (ETH Zurich)
12:15 PM – 1:30 PM | Lunch Break
Afternoon & Evening – Public Celebration of Quantum
1:30 PM – 5:45 PM | Wilson Hall Atrium, SQMS Quantum Garage
1:30 PM – 2:30 PM | Scaling the Quantum Startup: From Lab to Commercial Enterprise Moderated by Jonathan Felbinger (QED-C)
Panelists: Subodh Kulkarni (Rigetti Computing), Itamar Sivan (Quantum Machines), Britton Plourde (QoLab), Corban Tilleman-Dick (Maybell Quantum Industries)
2:30 PM – 4:00 PM | Laboratory Tours –Interactive lab tours highlighting quantum technologies
2:30 PM – 4:00 PM | Helen Edwards Ceremony (by invitation only)
4:00 PM – 5:45 PM |Topical Roundtable Discussions (by invitation only)
4:00 PM – 5:45 PM | Quantum Showcase – Career fair, live demos and interactive exhibits
6:30 – 7:30 PM | Public Lecture
Title: Quantum and AI: The Frontiers of Innovation
Speaker: Dr. Dario Gil (Under Secretary for Science at the U.S. Department of Energy)
Location: Ramsey Auditorium, Fermilab
Header image: “Wilson Hall and the Helen Edwards Engineering Center in the snow on December 20, 2024.”
Photographer: Ryan Postel, Fermilab
