< Summer program >
WISER Quantum and AI Program 2026
Optimization is everywhere. Every time a system needs to find the best solution among an astronomical number of possibilities - in drug discovery, energy grids, financial markets, materials design, machine learning, or quantum hardware itself - it's an optimization problem. The question is not whether optimization applies. It's which tools are powerful enough to solve it. This summer program is your answer. The WISER Quantum + AI Optimization Program 2026 brings three computing methods: classical algorithms, quantum computing, and artificial intelligence, into a single program for tackling the world's hardest optimization challenges. You'll learn how they compare to each other, limits of each one, and how combining them unlocks solutions that none could reach alone. Six weeks of live, hands-on training. Learn from the best.
Registration for the summer program is now closed.
Whether you're aiming for a Quantum Industry Fellowship at the Quantum Solutions Launchpad or simply looking to gain experience, this is your chance to go from theory to impact
Get answers to your questions.
Share on socials about your learning adventure and encourage others to join!
.png)
Participants will Explore:
How each approach contributes unique strengths to solving complex optimization challenges: the scalability of classical HPC systems, the emerging potential of quantum hardware for certain problem structures, and the adaptive learning capabilities of AI. The curriculum moves from foundational theory to production-grade tools, with hands-on experience building hybrid workflows.
Overview of classical methods (linear programming, branch and bound), QUBO formulation, and learning heuristics.
Optimization Landscape Across Classical, Quantum and AI
June 8, 10:30am-11:30am EST
Scott Crowder
IBM
Discuss general rules and expectations as well as logistics.
Program Introduction
June 8, 11:30am-12:00am EST
WISER Team
Explore how quantum computing, artificial intelligence and high-performance computing can work together to accelerate materials research and discovery.
Integration of Quantum Computing, Artificial
Intelligence and High-Performance Computing
for Accelerating Materials Discovery
June 10, 10:30am - 11:30am EST
Seongmin Kim
Oak Ridge National Laboratory
In this session, participants will learn how to leverage PennyLane to design quantum algorithms. From inspiration to implementation, participants will gain the practical software know-how needed to build at the frontier of research. This hands-on session will step beyond the standard models and explore a new framework: train classical, deploy quantum.
Using PennyLane, an open-source platform for designing, compiling, and realizing meaningful quantum algorithms, participants will learn the core tools needed to construct and explore applications such as IQP circuit optimization. This session pushes beyond basic simulation and leverages PennyLane’s advanced ecosystem to explore generative machine learning tools and resource estimation.
Train Classical, Deploy Quantum
June 12, 10:30am - 12:00pm EST
Catalina Albornoz
Xanadu
Explore how artificial intelligence and quantum computing intersect, including where the technologies complement one another and where their capabilities differ.
Quantum + AI
June 15, 10:30am - 12:00am EST
Vardaan Sahgal
WISER
Explore practical, approachable ways educators can introduce quantum concepts and emerging technologies to students.
Classical Optimization in a Quantum and AI world
June 17, 10:30am - 11:30am EST
Emily Tucker
Clemson University
Explore practical, approachable ways educators can introduce quantum concepts and emerging technologies to students.
WISER and BQP: Research and Collaboration
June 19, 10:30am - 11:00am EST
Alex Khan
BQP
An introduction to the Summer Program project phase, including the real-world challenges, expectations and next steps for participants.
Project Overview
June 19, 11:00am - 12:00am EST
Vardaan Sahgal
WISER
Achieving superpolynomial speedups for optimization has long been a central goal for quantum algorithms. I will discuss Decoded Quantum Interferometry (DQI), a quantum algorithm descended from Regev's reduction, that uses the quantum Fourier transform to reduce optimization problems to decoding problems. For approximating optimal polynomial fits over finite fields, DQI achieves a superpolynomial speedup over known classical algorithms. The next frontier is whether DQI can also attain quantum advantage for more generic optimization problems such as max-k-XORSAT. This talk will target a broad audience without assuming background in quantum algorithms.
Decoded Quantum Interferometry: A New Toolkit for
Quantum Optimization
June 22, 10:30-11:30am EST
Stephen Jordan
Learn about Vanguard’s work, the challenge participants will explore and how the project connects quantum, AI and real-world problem-solving.
Vanguard Project Introduction
June 22, 11:30-12:00am EST
Bimal Mehta
Vanguard
Explore how quantum computing can be integrated with high-performance computing to support complex scientific and computational workloads.
Integrating Quantum Computing with HPC:
Challenges and Opportunities
June 24, 10:30-11:30am EST
Monica Van Dieren
NVIDIA
Join an open support session to ask questions, get help with program content or projects, and connect with a WISER mentor.
Office Hours
June 24, 11:30-12:00am EST
Nitya Raju, WISER
This session explores how quantum interference can open new approaches to solving optimization problems beyond traditional classical and Hamiltonian-based methods. We will dive into a hands-on example of Decoded Quantum Interferometry, solving a max-XORSAT optimization problem with PennyLane.
Hands-On Session on DQI
June 26, 10:30-11:30am EST
Catalina Albornoz
Xanadu
Join an open support session to ask questions, get help with program content or projects, and connect with a WISER mentor.
Office Hours
June 26, 11:30-12:00am EST
Nitya Raju
WISER
We will briefly overview some key areas of AI for quantum in the past several years, as well as discuss some of my team's recent research projects.
AI for Quantum Computing
June 29, 10:30-11:30am EST
Dr. Taylor Patti
NVIDIA
Explore how quantum and advanced computational methods may be used to address complex optimization challenges in banking and financial services.
Quantum Optimization in Finance
June 29, 11:30-12:00am EST
Davide Corbelletto
Intesa San paolo
The main challenge of current large language models is that, although they can reason using techniques such as chain-of-thought, they often generate redundant, inconsistent, or low-quality reasoning steps. As task complexity increases, selecting and combining the most relevant reasoning fragments becomes a highly difficult computational problem. The QR-LLM approach addresses this issue by reformulating reasoning as a combinatorial optimization problem, where only the most coherent and useful reasoning paths are selected. To efficiently solve this complexity, the framework leverages hybrid quantum optimization methods, enabling the handling of high-order interactions that classical approaches struggle to scale.
Quantum Combinatorial Reasoning for Large Language
Models
July 1, 10:30-11:30am EST
Carlos Flores
Kipu Quantum
Join an open support session to ask questions, get help with program content or projects, and connect with a WISER mentor.
Office Hours
July 1, 11:30-12:00am EST
Nitya Raju
This session will feature selected clips from Our Quantum Future, followed by a guided discussion on the people, technologies, risks, and possibilities shaping the future of quantum. The conversation will help participants think beyond the technical details and consider how quantum is communicated, understood, and connected to society.
Our Quantum Future: Film Discussion
July 6, 10:30-11:30am
Guy Ellis
Teralon Media
Join an open support session to ask questions, get help with program content or projects, and connect with a WISER mentor.
Office Hours
July 6, 11:30am - 12:00pm EST
Nitya Raju
WISER
Learn how Advanced Quantum Systems is developing practical quantum technologies and explore the challenges, opportunities and real-world applications shaping the industry.
Advanced Quantum Systems
July 8, 10:30am - 11:30pm EST
Tom Finke
Applied Quantum Software
Explore how Quantum Rings is making quantum computing more accessible through tools that allow users to build, test and simulate large-scale quantum circuits on classical computers.
Quantum Rings Platform Overview
July 8, 11:30am - 12:00pm EST
Bob Wold
Quantum Rings
Explore how quantum algorithms are designed, how they differ from classical approaches and their potential applications for solving complex computational problems.
Algorithms
July 10, 10:30am - 11:30pm EST
Maxime Dupont
Rigetti
An introduction to BQP’s Summer Program project, including the challenge participants will address, available tools and expected outcomes.
BQP Project Introduction
July 10, 11:30am - 12:00pm EST
Alex Khan
BQP
Explore how quantum computing can be integrated with high-performance computing, including the technical challenges, emerging opportunities and potential applications of hybrid computing systems.
Integrating Quantum Computing with High-Performance
Computing: Challenges & Opportunities
July 13, 10:30-11:30am EST
Monica Van Dieren
NVIDIA
Explore how prompts can be designed, tested and refined to improve AI performance, accuracy and usefulness for real-world applications.
Vanguard Prompt Optimization
July 13, 11:30-12:00am EST
Andrew Rozniakowski and Jim Massessa
Vanguard
Explore how ZX calculus provides a visual way to simplify and optimize quantum circuits, helping reduce circuit complexity and improve computational efficiency.
ZX Calculus for Quantum Circuit Optimization
July 15, 10:30-11:30am EST
John van de Wetering
University of Amsterdam
Join Quantum Computing Inc. for a virtual tour of its quantum photonics facility. Learn how the company develops photonic hardware and integrated quantum technologies for applications including computing, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, and sensing. The prerecorded tour will be followed by a live Q&A with the QCi team.
Quantum Computing Inc. Lab Tour
July 15, 11:30-12:00am EST
Rachel Smith
Quantum Computing Inc.
Explore how tensor networks can incorporate complex constraints directly into optimization models, helping identify valid, high-quality solutions to problems in areas such as finance, logistics and resource allocation.
Tensor Networks for Constrained
Combinatorial Optimization
July 17, 10:30-11:30am EST
Javier Lopez Piqueres
JP Morgan Chase
Reflect on key lessons from the Summer Program, celebrate participant accomplishments and review final steps for projects, certificates and continued engagement with WISER.
Program Close
July 17, 10:30-11:30am EST
WISER Team
