Joseph Clark, a PhD student in EECS from Charleston, West Virginia, was selected to receive a 2023 National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship.

The fellowship provides three years of financial support within a five-year period or until Clark graduates. He currently researches quantum computing with Associate Professor Himanshu Thapliyal, specifically the development of computer-aided design tools for quantum computing.

“My existing work focuses on the development of novel, efficient, high-quality quantum circuit synthesis tools, which are a promising method for improving the scalability of quantum circuit optimization,” he said.

During the fellowship, Clark will work on the development of a quantum compiler which optimizes quantum circuits to obtain the highest possible accuracy when running on a given quantum computer.

“Modern quantum computers are noisy, meaning they often don’t produce the correct result for a given circuit,” he said. “By using my tool, we can reduce the impact of noise, which produces more accurate results. In the early stages of the development of this tool, I have proposed a quantum circuit partition tool which will be published in the Great Lakes Symposium on VLSI in June 2023.”

His long-term goal is to become a leading researcher in quantum circuit compilation.

“This fellowship will provide me with appropriate training and experience resulting from collaboration with ORNL and other industry professionals,” said Clark.