Vassar Acquires Powerful Quantum Computer for Use in the Classroom and Student Research
Ever since he came to Vassar in 2019, it has been one of Juan Merlo’s goals to find a way to teach quantum computing. But first, the assistant professor of physics and astronomy had to find an affordable quantum computer. “The big ones cost millions of dollars,” Merlo said recently, “and they need to operate at temperatures near Absolute Zero.”
Renting time on a quantum computer owned by IBM also proved to be prohibitively expensive, but last year, while scrolling the Internet, Merlo found an ad for a much smaller model that didn’t have all the capabilities of the larger ones but was suitable for teaching. The price tag: about $30,000 plus tax, and Merlo was able to use funds from the Department of Physics and Astronomy to make the purchase. “It’s important that we begin to teach our students quantum computing,” he said. “It can accomplish so many tasks that traditional computers cannot do.”
The easiest way to explain the difference between the two kinds of computers, Merlo explained, is to understand the difference between a standard computer’s building block, Bits, and a quantum computer’s use of something called a Qubit. While standard computers operate by adding the numbers 1 and 0, a quantum computer can perform many more operations with much more efficiency because Qubits add multiple numbers simultaneously. “Although the Qubits can operate the operations simultaneously, the results always collapse to a classical bit,” Merlo said. “The applications are useful in weather forecasting, epidemics prevention, and analysis of stocks, among others.”
Merlo’s first task is to train students how to operate the new acquisition, and he has tapped two physics majors, Tristan Christofferson ’26 and Amanda Flores ’26, to familiarize themselves with its operation and begin training other students later this spring. The two demonstrated some of the computer’s applications when several faculty members from the United States Military Academy visited the campus recently, and Flores said she was eager to teach her fellow students. “I took a class with Juan last semester, and asked him about research possibilities, and that’s when he told me about the quantum computer and asked if I was interested in learning more about it” she said.
Christofferson said he and Flores had learned enough about the workings of the computer to perform some experiments, “and I’m looking forward to showing other students.”
Merlo said the main reason he pursued the purchase of the quantum computer was to prepare his students for their professional lives after Vassar. “To my knowledge, we are the first college of our size to have one of these, and it will help to prepare our students in state-of-the-art technology for graduate school and for the workforce in the coming decades,” he said. “My long-term goal is to build our own quantum computer, with all its components made in the USA.”