Dr. Chen Feng is an an Associate Professor in the School of Engineering at UBC’s Okanagan Campus.
Dr. Chen Feng of UBC Okanagan (UBCO)’s School of Engineering is among the recipients of Alliance Quantum Grants announced today by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), for his innovative work in quantum computing.
Dr. Feng received $165,186 over two years for his project which aims to enhance Canada’s strengths in quantum computing and quantum communication by collaborating with Xanadu (a Canadian quantum computing startup) to improve their photonics-based quantum computers through novel quantum error-correcting codes.
“Quantum error correction is a cornerstone in building scalable quantum computers, bridging the gap between current experimental systems and practical, fault-tolerant quantum computing,” explains Dr. Feng. “Recent breakthroughs by IBM and Google have underscored the transformative potential of advancing quantum error correction.”
Dr. Feng’s group aims to build on this momentum by developing novel error-correcting codes tailored to the unique hardware architecture of Xanadu’s quantum computers.
“This project not only positions Xanadu to maintain its quantum advantage but also bolsters Canada’s quantum ecosystem in meaningful ways. By raising the profile of Canadian quantum companies like Xanadu and sharing cutting-edge research findings, the research will contribute to cementing Canada’s leadership in the global quantum computing race,” said Dr. Feng.
Dr. Feng is one of three professors from UBC’s Faculty of Applied Science and eight UBC experts in total who received grants in this round. The other APSC professors included Dr. Lukas Chrostowski and Olivia Di Matteo. Dr. Feng is the only recipient from UBC Okanagan’s campus.
“Congratulations to Dr. Chen Feng not only on this exciting support and recognition for his work, but also on his innovative and collaborative approach. This project is a perfect example of how UBC engineers are working with industry to solve – and get ahead of – incredibly complex real-world problems in computing,” said UBCO School of Engineering Director Dr. Will Hughes.
Last fall, UBC Okanagan’s School of Engineering welcomed its first cohort of students into its Computer Engineering program, as demand soars for well-trained computer engineers, computer and data scientists in Canada and beyond to tackle challenges and opportunities around big data, hardware, software, security and artificial intelligence (AI).
Read more about the UBC researchers and projects awarded.
About Dr. Chen Feng
Dr. Chen Feng is Associate Professor in the School of Engineering at UBC’s Okanagan Campus. He is also a Tier-2 Principal’s Research Chair in Blockchain and Co-Cluster Lead of Blockchain@UBC. His research focuses on information and coding theory, wireless communications and networking, cloud computing and big data, and recently, quantum communications and blockchain technology. He is working on adapting and developing new ideas and tools from information theory, coding theory, stochastic processes, and optimization to design better communication networks with a particular emphasis on quantum communications and blockchain technology.