YQuantum is a hackathon organized by Yale every year. BlueQubit hosted their global challenge both remotely and in person at Yale. The challenge was about finding the hidden bitstring in a peaked circuit, an idea introduced by Scott Aaronson to show quantum advantage. In a peaked circuit, there is only one hidden computational basis state, or bitstring, that has a significantly higher amplitude than all other bitstrings. Given 6 peaked circuits, their task was to figure out the 6 hidden bitstrings.  Circuits 4 to 6 were constructed in a way that was difficult to solve by a classical or a current quantum computer due to the large Hilbert space, depth of the circuit, and the number of operations. All teams present at YQuantum were able to figure out 3 out of the 6 hidden strings. Henry’s team gave the best presentation and the best possible solutions to solve circuits 4 to 6.  

Application is now open for the 2025 Wisconsin Summer School for Quantum Science! This summer school will take place on May 28-30 and aims to promote quantum science (quantum materials, quantum information, and quantum sensing) to senior undergraduate students and junior graduate students interested in pursuing a PhD in this research area.  

The Open Quantum Initiative (OQI) Undergraduate Fellowship provides undergraduate students with research experiences working in quantum science laboratories and research groups. OQI fellows spend 10 weeks over the summer working in person with research groups on challenging quantum information science and engineering (QISE) projects. Fellows are given on-campus housing at their institution, a stipend of $6,000, and travel to/from the program. Research experiences occur at the University of Chicago, Argonne National Laboratory, the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, the University of Wisconsin–Madison, Northwestern University, and The Ohio State University. No research experience is required.  Students enrolled in any undergraduate institution in the United States, including community colleges, are eligible. Applications for the 2025 OQI Undergraduate Fellowship cohort are open until February 6, 2025. More information is available by emailing oqi@uchicago.edu or by visiting the OQI website. Interested students, faculty, and staff can also register for online application information sessions, which will include tips on how to craft a strong application.