India and the University of Chicago have a relationship dating back to a campus lecture by Bengali poet, social reformer and Nobel Prize winner Rabindranath Tagore in 1913.
Two recent visits by UChicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering (PME) faculty – a quantum workshop as part of a new partnership with IIT Bombay and a separate recruitment visit to IIT Delhi this June – have strengthened those ties.
The quantum workshop was co-organized by the University of Chicago Center in Delhi, UChicago Global and IIT Bombay's Centre of Excellence in Quantum Information Computing Science & Technology.
“This workshop and the partnership with IIT Bombay build on a century-old relationship between India and the University of Chicago,” said Delhi Center Faculty Director, PME Prof. Supratik Guha. “The extraordinary anticipated opportunities quantum technologies offer in a range of fields from computing to communications and sensing are the reason there is enormous national research investments in this area across the globe. As we explore this new quantum era, it’s important that we explore together with some of our valued partners.”
Guha also recently wrote about how quantum computing could mitigate AI's energy impact for the large Indian daily newspaper The Economic Times.
The workshop brought 16 participants from Chicago, including seven leading faculty members and a number of students and post-docs, to build connections and discuss cutting-edge research. The group represented PME’s globally recognized Quantum Science and Engineering theme, the PME STAGE Lab, the Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation and the Chicago Quantum Exchange.
There were a total of 85 participants at the workshop, including faculty and graduate students from IIT Bombay and the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) and experts from Applied Materials, IBM, Tata Consultancy Services, and the Department of Telecommunications, Government of India.
The workshop was held on June 5 and 6 at the University of Chicago Delhi Center in Connaught Place, Delhi.
“IIT and other institutions in India have an incredible scientific heritage in physics and experiments. Several Indian scientists were at the forefront of developing quantum mechanics and optics,” said PME Asst. Prof. Alex High, who attended the workshop. “It is beneficial for UChicago to partner with these institutions to diversify ourselves academically, learn different styles of thinking, and tap into the very best students and professors from around the world.”
The connections between India and PME are not only being fostered around quantum technologies.
On June 20, PME Asst. Prof. Shrayesh Patel, who works in the Materials Systems for Sustainability and Health theme, visited IIT Delhi to show how a graduate education at UChicago’s Pritzker Molecular Engineering can help top students achieve their goals. He plans to return to IIT Delhi and visit several other Indian Institute of Technology universities in the fall.
“UChicago and the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering offer an unparalleled experience in quantum technology, energy and sustainability, AI, immunoengineering and other cutting-edge research,” Patel said. “It's only natural we want to work hand-in-hand with the world-class institutions and students India offers.”
Here are a few other ways UChicago is helping to grow this longstanding, important relationship:
- As highlighted during a meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and U.S. President Joe Biden at the G20 summit in New Delhi last year, IIT Bombay has joined the Chicago Quantum Exchange, which is led by PME Prof. David Awschalom, advancing the reach and impact of quantum technologies.
- The UChicago Center in Delhi, where Guha serves as faculty director, recently celebrated its 10th anniversary. The Center is a dynamic platform for scholarly collaboration across India and South Asia across many diverse topics, from telecommunications systems to poetry.
- In addition to providing yearly scholarships to 15 outstanding Indian students, the nonprofit University of Chicago Trust works toward a better India by fighting vehicular pollution and partnering with IBM to improve water quality in Maharashtra in a program led by PME’s Guha.
- The University of Chicago’s International Innovation Corps has more than 170 fellows working on over 40 projects to improve public health and access to information across India.
Learn more about the University of Chicago’s impact and outreach around the planet.