Eden Figueroa to lead new SBU Quantum Institute

Stony Brook University is launching a new Quantum Institute under the leadership of Eden Figueroa. Figueroa is an endowed presidential professor of physics in the Department of Physics and Astronomy in the College of Arts and Sciences. He holds a joint appointment with Brookhaven National Laboratory and is recognized as a national and international leader in quantum networking research and entrepreneurship. The selection followed consultation with a broad cohort of faculty and university leadership. The announcement was made in a letter from Executive Vice President and Provost Carl W. Lejuez to faculty and staff. The institute will catalyze an investment of 300 million dollars from the state and SUNY system. It will also be supported by 13 million dollars announced by President Andrea Goldsmith along with funds from university fundraising efforts. The Quantum Institute is designed to empower interdisciplinary quantum research across networking, computing, sensing and simulation. It will offer competitive fellowships for students, postdoctoral scholars and visiting faculty while bringing together participants from the College of Arts and Sciences and the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences. The institute will foster collaborative opportunities that include the Renaissance School of Medicine and centers such as the Institute for Advanced Computational Science, the AI Innovation Institute and the Laufer Center. It will be home to a quantum training and workforce center and will collaborate on new curriculum and degree programs. The institute will house state of the art teaching laboratories. It will become the epicenter of an interdisciplinary quantum research consortium that will spin out high tech start up companies, fuel industry sponsored research and forge international partnerships. In parallel the university will embark on a faculty cluster hiring plan to recruit up to 10 new faculty across its schools and colleges over the next two years. The institute marks the next phase of quantum leadership at Stony Brook that has been a core area of research since 2018. The efforts have expanded with support from the State University of New York, the SUNY STRIVE initiative and Governor Kathy Hochul. Governor Hochul announced last fall a 300 million dollar investment at Stony Brook to establish the Quantum Research and Innovation Hub. The hub will be the state's premier facility for quantum science and technology with a focus on quantum communication and networking. The investment supports expansion of the quantum internet testbed that originally linked Stony Brook, Brookhaven National Laboratory and the Brooklyn Navy Yard. The testbed will eventually span more than 1,000 miles across New York State. Stony Brook has been a leader in physics research since its founding in 1957. That legacy includes Nobel Laureate C.N. Frank Yang who joined the faculty in 1965.