This AQ day organized by CUNY ITS, SandboxAQ, and JPMC aims to expose CUNY students to AQ – the intersection of AI and quantum, and real-world applications. AI and Quantum experts from academia and industry will speak on various topics including LLMs, LQMs, and AQ. Students will also have the opportunity to participate in a career development session where they can ask industry experts career-related questions.
9:00 AM
Registration and Coffee
9:30 AM to 11:00 AM
Session 1: Introduction to AI and its applications
9:30 AM
Introductory Talk on Driving AI and Quantum Innovation
Stefan Leichenauer
Vice President of Engineering, SandboxAQ
At the core of any major technological shift, education plays a critical role. AI and quantum technologies are no exception. To unlock the full potential of these innovations, we need to cultivate a strong and diverse talent ecosystem. That’s why SandboxAQ has made university partnerships such a central part of our strategy for advancing AI and quantum technologies. Collaborations between industry and academia are exactly what’s needed to meet the rapidly growing demand for talent.
Dr. Leichenauer will also touch on why these partnerships are so important to SandboxAQ. Not only do they drive innovation, but they also ensure that the benefits of these technologies reach a broader, more diverse group of students, especially those from underrepresented backgrounds in STEM. By working hand-in-hand with universities, we aim to build a workforce that’s ready for the challenges of a fast-evolving technological landscape. In this collective effort, SandboxAQ is proud to contribute alongside other institutions and innovators, helping shape the future of these transformative fields.
10:00 AM
Data Science in the Real World
Mariya Bessonov and Alireza Zaheri
Directors of AI/ML Research, AMEX
Mariya Bessonov and Alireza Zaheri, directors, of AI/ML research at American Express, will go behind the scenes of data science at American Express. Mariya and Alireza will also share real-world use cases and provide tips on how to prepare for technical interviews at Amex.
10:30 AM
AI and LQM-driven drug discovery
Andrea Bortolato
VP of Drug Discovery, SandboxAQ
SandboxAQ generates proprietary data using physics-based methods, and trains Large Quantitative Models (LQMs) on that data, leading to new insights in areas, such as life sciences, energy, chemicals, and financial services. Structure-based methods in drug discovery have become an integral part of the modern drug discovery process. Recent advances in free energy binding prediction methods and generative AI solutions are transforming medicinal chemistry. We will present the evaluation of novel drug discovery solutions for target identification, hit finding, and lead optimization applied to promising drug discovery targets. Examples include active learning absolute free energy perturbation (AQFEP) virtual screening, a new generative AI solution combining deep diffusion with multi-objective optimization for structure-based drug design, and protein target identification methods.
11:00 to 11:15 AM
Coffee break
11:15 AM to 12:00 PM
Session 2: Career Development Panel
Panelists: Mark Hillery (CUNY), Marianna Bonanome (SandboxAQ), Rudy Raymond (JPMC), Andrea Bortolato (SandboxAQ), Amro Imam (SandboxAQ)
Interact with AI and Physics experts at different levels of their careers and gain insights on how to navigate opportunities in the field today.
12:00 PM to 1:00 PM
Lunch
1:00 PM
Session 3: AI in Education Fireside chat with OpenAI and SandboxAQ
Building The AI-Native Future
Fireside chat with Joe Casson (GTM Team, OpenAI) and Marianna Bonanome (Head of AI Strategy and Partnerships, SandboxAQ) about building the AI native future.
2:00 to 3:00 PM
Session 4: The intersection of AI and Quantum in tech
2:00 PM
Quantum Machine Learning: An Interplay Between Quantum Computing and Machine Learning
Samuel Yen-Chi Chen
Senior Research Scientist, Wells Fargo
Quantum Machine Learning (QML) represents an exciting frontier where the power of quantum computing meets the versatility of traditional machine learning. This talk will explore how QML leverages the unique principles of quantum physics to potentially revolutionize machine learning, while also using machine learning to push the boundaries of quantum computing research. We will introduce the role of variational quantum circuits (VQC) in designing QML architectures for noisy intermediate-scale quantum (NISQ) devices and share key insights from our recent research. Additionally, I will discuss the role of AI in quantum computing, highlighting the symbiotic relationship between these fields. Finally, we’ll look toward the future, considering both the opportunities and challenges that lie ahead for QML research.
2:30 PM
Accelerated Quantum Supercomputing at NVIDIA
Monica VanDieren
Sr. Technical Marketing Engineer for Quantum Computing and HPC, NVIDIA
3:00 to 4:15 PM
Session 4: Workshop and Tutorial
3:00 - 4:00 PM
Tangelo Workshop
Valentin Senicourt
Staff Research Scientist, SandboxAQ
Tangelo is an open-source python package for both NISQ and FT chemistry workflows on quantum computers, available through pypi and github. It features a growing collection of building blocks and algorithms for chemistry simulation, built on top of a straightforward yet powerful backend-agnostic layer leveraging well-known frameworks in the quantum ecosystem, compatible with qBraid and many other well-known ones.
Want to explore Tangelo ahead of the workshop?
GitHub (source code)
Github (tutorials, hands-on exercises)
Workshop Agenda
Part 1:
Tangelo overview (purpose, philosophy) ,High-level view of package structure and toolboxes,
Resources available: documentation, tutorials, hands-on exercises
Demo 1: Simple demo: gates and quantum circuits operations, Leveraging Tangelo with other community efforts (qiskit, cirq, qulacs, braket )
Part 2:
Focus on chemistry modeling, VQE in Tangelo
Demo 2: Simple system (h2): reference calculations, VQE calculations and computational resources
Part 3:
Spotlight: hardware experiment toolboxes, Fault-tolerant quantum computing in Tangelo
Wrap-up
4:00 - 4:15 PM
Simulating LiH using Tangelo
NYC HAQ Champions
4:15 to 4:30 PM
Networking time + Swing by for SandboxAQ Swag