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Ashtekar Frontiers of Science Lectures

Ashtekar Frontiers of Science Lectures

Various

2025-01-25

The Ashtekar Frontiers of Science Lectures in the Eberly College of Science, a series of free public lectures now in its 31st year, will return to Penn State on Jan. 25.

This year’s lecture series, titled “2025: Year of Quantum,” will explore how physics at the smallest scales impacts materials, human health, computing, communications and more. The 2025 lecture series celebrates 100 years of quantum mechanics and the UNESCO International Year of Quantum Science and Technology with six lectures on consecutive Saturdays that explore the depth and breadth of quantum research at Penn State and beyond.

  • January 25 in 100 Thomas Building

Sascha Meinrath, Palmer Chair in Telecommunications in the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications at Penn State and director of X-Lab, will give a talk titled “Public interest technologists and the battle for privacy in the quantum age.”

  • February 1 in 100 Thomas Building

Lukas Muechler, assistant professor of chemistry and physics, will give a talk titled “How chemistry and physics come together in quantum materials.”

  • February 8 in 100 Thomas Building

Xiantao Li, professor of mathematics, will present a talk titled “What can quantum computing do for scientific computing?”

  • February 15 in 001 Chemical and Biomedical Engineering Building

Marcos Rigol, professor of physics, will give a talk titled “A tale of two gases: Classical and quantum.”

  • February 22 in 100 Thomas Building

Abhinav Kandala, principal research scientist at IBM Quantum who earned a Ph.D. in physics at Penn State in 2015, will present a talk titled “Accurate quantum computing.”

  • March 1 in 001 Chemical and Biomedical Engineering Building

Jun Zhu, professor of physics, will present a talk titled “Building a quantum information highway network with topological edge states.”

Penn State encourages qualified persons with disabilities to participate in its programs and activities. If you anticipate needing any type of accommodation or have questions about physical access provided, you may call 814-867-5830 or email sci-comm@psu.edu in advance of your participation or visit.

TimeSpeakerTitle
00:00Sascha MeinrathAshtekar Frontiers of Science: Sascha Meinrath
00:00Lukas MuechlerAshtekar Frontiers of Science: Lukas Muechler
00:00Xiantao LiAshtekar Frontiers of Science: Xiantao Li
00:00Marcos RigolAshtekar Frontiers of Science: Marcos Rigol
00:00Abhinav KandalaAshtekar Frontiers of Science: Abhinav Kandala
00:00Jun Zhu,Ashtekar Frontiers of Science: Jun Zhu
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Monica The IGC wordmark was created by Monica Rincon Ramirez, while she was a graduate student at the Institute for Gravitation and the Cosmos (IGC). Monica enjoys drawing new connections between fundamental theory and observations. Her graduate work includes specialized topics in general relativity, loop quantum gravity, and quantum fields in cosmological backgrounds. In particular, her thesis work focused on finding effective quantum corrections to gravitational phenomena from spinfoams, and applications to cosmology. She received her PhD in 2024.

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