Bard College Awarded Department of Energy Grant for Quantum Computation Research Project

ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y.— Bard College Assistant Professor of Physics Abhinav Prem has received a two-year research award from the US Department of Energy to develop new methods that make quantum computers more stable and reliable. The project, “Leveraging Novel Symmetries for Noise-Resilient Topological Quantum Computation,” is a joint collaboration with professor Stephan Haas at the University of Southern California (USC) and was funded under the DOE EXPRESS 2025 program. Bard is the lead institution and recipient of $300,006 of the $500,000 award.

Quantum computers promise dramatic speedups for problems like materials design, drug discovery, and complex climate modeling. But unlike conventional computers, quantum bits — or qubits — are extremely sensitive to their surroundings. Small disturbances such as heat, vibrations, or stray fields can flip or erase quantum information, causing errors that quickly cascade and wreck a computation.

Instead of trying to stop every disturbance, professor Prem uses a different strategy: build “tracks” that guide errors into predictable paths where they can be caught and corrected. These tracks come from mathematical structures called symmetries and from exotic states of matter known as topological phases. By designing systems where errors are forced to behave in regular, controllable ways, this research program aims to create quantum memories and operations that are naturally resilient, reducing the overhead for constant external correction.

“Think of an error as a runaway train,” Prem explains. “If the train can go anywhere, it will crash. Our project is about building the tracks that force those errors to move along very specific, predictable pathways. By constraining how errors propagate, we can effectively 'catch' and correct them before the train goes off the rails. This approach could lead to scalable quantum devices that are inherently resilient to inevitable environmental noise."

The two-year project will combine theoretical work with practical protocols aimed at near-term quantum devices, and will support one postdoctoral researcher each at Bard and USC.

This event was last updated on 01-21-2026

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