Workshop: Quantum Computing-Enabled Engineering: PDEs, Mechanics, & Design Optimization - Towards Quantum Advantage in Engineering Simulation; Nashville, Tennessee; 6-7 August 2026

This grant provides registration and travel support for 70 participants to attend the workshop entitled Quantum Computing-Enabled Engineering: PDEs, Mechanics, & Design Optimization - Towards Quantum Advantage in Engineering Simulation, to be held at the Vanderbilt University campus in Nashville, Tennessee, 6-7 August 2026. The workshop will address the status quo and potential of quantum computing (QC) in civil, mechanical, and manufacturing disciplines. Participants from industry, academia, and national laboratories will identify QC applications of interest in engineering, discuss technical barriers in both software and hardware development, define grand challenges to galvanize communities, and offer a road map for QC-enabled engineering solutions. The workshop will allow aspiring researchers such as graduate students and postdocs to network with established investigators in the field. It will also offer an introductory short course on QC to equip participants with basic knowledge and understanding of foundational algorithms. Significant research progress in quantum algorithms, such as linear equation system solvers, Fourier transform, Hamiltonian simulators, signal processing, singular value transform, which constitute the foundational toolset for engineering computations have provided a tremendous opportunity to achieve the advantages of QC in engineering applications. The fundamental knowledge gaps are in deployment of these algorithms to solve complex engineering problems of relevance to the CMMI community, including high-dimensional partial differential equations, multiscale and multiphysics problems, inverse problems, and design optimization and demonstrating that the resulting high level quantum algorithms are efficient and accurate. This workshop is intended to spur research innovation to bridge these knowledge gaps and affect engineering computations in a transformative fashion. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria. NSF Award ID: 2624251 | Program: 01002627DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT | Principal Investigator: Caglar Oskay | Institution: Vanderbilt University, NASHVILLE, TN | Award Amount: $58,183 View on NSF Award Search: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/show-award/?AWD_ID=2624251 View on Research.gov: https://www.research.gov/awardapi-service/v1/awards/2624251.html