Advancing science and technology

Major grants from the National Science Foundation will spur breakthroughs in quantum engineering and artificial intelligence. The National Science Foundation (NSF) is awarding grants to create three new Science and Technology Centers this year, and it is no accident that two of them will be based here in Cambridge. Harvard University will lead a new project called the Center for Integrated Quantum Materials and, as announced earlier this month, will play a prominent role in a second called the Center for Brains, Minds, and Machines . The two multi-institutional grants total $45 million over five years. The NSF's Science and Technology Center (STC) program supports integrative partnerships that require large-scale, long-term funding to produce research and education of the highest quality. Existing STCs study a wide range of complex scientific topics, such as multiscale atmospheric modeling, life beneath the sea floor, energy-efficient electronics, and biophotonics. The two new centers promise to advance the science and engineering of quantum information technology and intelligent machines, in new directions that have yet to be explored.