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Even without the available data, both parties are quietly anxious about the fate of some members in the yet-to-be-drawn new maps.

In Georgia, Democrats are already bracing for the prospect that they will be left with only one winnable seat in the suburbs north of Atlanta, where Reps. Lucy McBath (D-Ga.) and Carolyn Bourdeaux (D-Ga.) live. Republicans have trifecta control in Georgia and could create a deep blue seat based in Gwinnett County, leaving the other seat skewed heavily Republican.

In Illinois, GOP Rep. Rodney Davis could be left without a friendly district if Democrats unite Springfield with the bluer parts of Republican Rep. Mike Bost's district to the South. Meanwhile, Bost could be jostling with freshman Republican Rep. Mary Miller for congressional survival.

Still, the intra-congressional fighting for seats might not be as bad as many expected.

Alabama Republicans and the entire Minnesota delegation got a break when their states held steady at seven and eight seats, respectively. Some of Minnesotas eight incumbents were already preparing for member-versus-member fights. Instead, Democratic Reps. Dean Phillips and Angie Craig can now each have a seat in the Twin Cities suburbs, and Republican Reps. Michelle Fischbach, Tom Emmer and Pete Stauber won't have to play musical chairs to the north, west and south.

I wouldn't want to run against one of my colleagues like Angie, but I would love to run against Tom Emmer, Phillips joked in an interview.

The Democratic and Republican congressional campaign arms typically each appoint a designated redistricting chairman, who has the unenviable job of making sure delegations keep open lines of conversation among themselves as maps are drawn.

Republicans tapped Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-Fla.) for the job, but Democrats are relying heavily an outside group, the Eric Holder-led National Democratic Redistricting Committee.

The redistricting process will be foreign to most of the current Congress. Of the 435 members, roughly 160 were in the House ten years ago. But as political survival instincts kick in, they'll learn how quickly old friendships sour.

If 2011 is any indication, Congress is about to turn into a soap opera.

It was spring of that year when former Democratic Rep. Russ Carnahan lashed out at fellow Missouri Democratic Reps. Lacy Clay and Emmanuel Cleaver, who declined to oppose a GOP-led redistricting plan that placed Carnahan in the same district as Clay. F--- you. Thanks for your help, he reportedly told Cleaver on the House floor.

In Pennsylvania, former Democratic Rep. Jason Altmire recalled taking then-candidate Mark Critz around his hometown and holding D.C. fundraisers for him when Critz ran in a 2010 special election. Two years later, they were running against each other and Critz tried to get Altmire booted off the ballot.

"You see each other in the hall in the Capitol, and you're sitting there on the floor and different conversations get overheard," Altmire said. "And just it's a very difficult work environment to be able to keep those friendships."

Perhaps the most notable redistricting spat came in the Los Angeles area between Sherman and Berman, two veteran Democrats. Sherman, who trounced Berman by 20 points, said they both tried to convince the other to run in a brand-new seat with no incumbent in Ventura County but neither had deep roots there.

In the heat of the campaign, a uniformed security guard stepped between them at a debate after Berman suggested Sherman was delusional."

"We're both very, very polite people, with the possible exception of one minute," Sherman recollected.

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Redistricting kicks off ruthless year of House infighting - POLITICO

We are honoring the excellence of these individuals, celebrating what they have achieved so far, and imagining what they will continue to accomplish, said David Oxtoby, President of the American Academy. The past year has been replete with evidence of how things can get worse; this is an opportunity to illuminate the importance of art, ideas, knowledge, and leadership that can make a better world.

Yacoby holds appointments in the Physics Department and at theHarvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences(SEAS)and is a member of the National Academy of Science.

Yacobys research explores topological quantum computing, interacting electrons in layered materials, spin-based quantum computing and the development of novel quantum sensing probes such as scanning single electron transistors and color centers in diamond for unraveling the underlying microscopic physics of correlated electron systems.

Yacoby is leading a research area at theDepartment of Energys Quantum Information Science (QIS) Research Centerat Oak Ridge National Laboratory, where his work will focus on using quantum sensing techniques to explore quantum materials.

Yacoby is a member and sits on the executive committee of theHarvard QuantumInitiativeand a participant in theCenter for Integrated Quantum Materials(CIQM), a National Science Foundation Science and Technology Center, based at SEAS. CIQM is dedicated to studying new quantum materials with non-conventional properties that could transform signal processing and computation.

Source: Harvard University

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Quantum Computing Professor, Researcher Yacoby Elected to American Academy of Arts & Sciences - HPCwire

Quantum computing expert Andrew Fursman is convinced quantum attacks in the future will pose a threat to the security of Bitcoin (BTC).

In a video, Fursman highlights that the massive computational potential of quantum machines could be capable of compromising Bitcoins security.

Its mathematically proven that if you have a device that looks like the kind of quantum computers that people want to build, then you will be capable of decrypting this information significantly better than could ever be possible with classical devices.

Fursman argues that regardless of when quantum computers come of age, a solution needs to be found.

Whether quantum computers come out tomorrow or in five years or in ten years, they are capable of being cryptographically useful. Those devices are going to be capable of doing something that you might not want if you are somebody thats keeping a secret

So its worth kind of getting into what are the different ways that the blockchains rely on cryptography, and which of those are specifically relevant to the things that quantum computers of the future might do. And how much is that really a problem for people today, versus not a problem at all? And what things are maybe not a problem yet but we might want to be thinking about working on? Better to be safe than sorry.

While Fursman says that quantum machines may place Bitcoins cryptography in jeopardy, he notes that it will not happen anytime soon.

We might need actually significantly more qubits (quantum bits, or a unit of quantum information) than are currently available. And like I sort of alluded to, we might be at the point where the largest computers that we are building today end up really becoming the foundation of one logical qubit for one of these large devices

So if we need a thousand times more qubits then we might have in a few years, you sort of have to be thinking about the growth of these things from both the error correction standpoint and the number of logical qubits that you need to go forward

And I should say some people even put the number as high as millions that you might need. So we are definitely, we are not right around the corner from this. Its not going to happen next week.

I

Featured Image: Shutterstock/agsandrew

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Is Quantum Computing Placing Bitcoins Future in Jeopardy? Quantum Expert Andrew Fursman on Future of Crypto - The Daily Hodl

MONTREAL, April 29, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- infinityQ Technology, Inc., a women led, engineered and managed startup, today announced its groundbreaking computer, infinityQube. The Montral-based startup has coined its approach quantum analog computing, introducing a novel paradigm in the quantum space. The device is compact, energy-efficient and operates at room temperature, relying on established chip technologies.

We wanted to bring the computational power promised by quantum computing to the market today, said Aurlie Hlouis, CEO and co-founder of infinityQ. While quantum will eventually revolutionize computing, most experts agree that quantum devices will take another decade or more to mature. We, on the other hand, have developed a completely different approach "quantum analog computing." It is analog in two ways referring to analogies with atomic quantum systems as well as to analog electronics. In practice, this means infinityQ develops computational capabilities by using artificial atoms to exploit the superposition effect and achieve quantum computing capabilities without the error correction and cryogenics tax. This allows the company to utilize several times less energy than a typical CPU and that its machine's energy consumption is the same as a common light bulb.

Led by a former senior Navy officer, Aurlie Hlouis, and co-creator of both the Discoverer supercomputer and the infinityQube, Dr. Kapanova, infinityQs novel device is positioned to address some of the most challenging computational problems faced in enterprises, including finance, pharmaceutical, logistics, engineering, energy and more. While currently the company is focused on optimization problems, infinityQ is not limited to them.

As a demonstration of its capabilities, infinityQ used its hardware to solve the Traveling Salesperson Problem for 128 cities while other non-classical machines have solved 22 cities maximum.

"Our technology's additional advantages are two-fold. First, it can be integrated seamlessly into the existing HPC infrastructure," said Dr. Kapanova, CTO of infinityQ. "But moreover, our quantum-analog approach is ideal for the era of edge computing due to its room-temperature capability and low energy requirements."

With John Mullen, former Assistant Director of the CIA; Philippe Dollfus, Research Director at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS); and Michel Kurek, both former Global Head of Algo Factory and Quantitative Trading for Societe Generale, on its advisory board, infinityQ has raised over $1 million USD in seed funding to date and is currently working with leading financial institutions and pharmaceutical companies on proofs-of-concept as investor-clients. Access to infinityQs hardware technology is available today via the cloud on an invitation-only basis.

infinityQ will make its industry debut at the virtual IQT Conference on May 17-20, 2021.

About infinityQ

Quantum-analog device innovator, infinityQ is leading a paradigm shift: While the current generation of the technology already delivers computational speed-up of 100 to 1000 times depending on the problem, the next generation of the technology will be faster and significantly more energy-efficient. infinityQ aims to address some of the most complex computational optimization problems facing finance, pharmaceutical, logistics, engineering, oil and gas, and other industries. Access to infinityQs hardware technology is available today via the cloud on an invitation-only basis.

For Media InquiriesFatimah NouilatiScratch Marketing + Media for infinityQfatimah@scratchmm.com

For Business Inquiries:Jackie HudspethDirector of Growth, infinityQ Technology, Inc.jackie@infinityq.tech

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infinityQube, the First Operational Quantum Analog Computer, Is Bringing Quantum Speed to Enterprise - GlobeNewswire

Judy Cha, Ph.D. 09, has been hired as a professor in Cornells Department of Materials Science and Engineering, bringing to her alma mater an expertise in nanoscale materials that will be key to enhancing the universitys NEXT Nano initiative an interdisciplinary program designed to advance nanoscale science and microsystems engineering.

Cha is currently the Carol and Douglas Melamed Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science at Yale University and will join the Cornell faculty in 2022. Her husband, Alex Kwan, Ph.D. 09, associate professor of psychiatry and neuroscience in the Yale School of Medicine, will join Cornells Nancy E. and Peter C. Meinig School of Biomedical Engineering.

Both alumni are important additions to the College of Engineering, which is growing its roster of interdisciplinary faculty who contribute to university-level centers and initiatives. Cha is a particularly strategic fit, with research interests including atomic understanding of material formation and the design of new materials with applications for quantum computing and information processing.

Judy is a deep thinker who tackles big questions in materials science, said Lara Estroff, chair of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering. Her fearless approach combines advanced synthesis with cutting-edge characterization techniques, spanning fields from materials science to physics to electrical and computer engineering. She is already building collaborations across these departments at Cornell.

Chas research group specializes in the synthesis and characterization of a class of materials known as chalcogenides, which include sulfides, tellurides and selenides. Their work to create two-dimensional, layered topological nanomaterials has a range of novel applications, including quantum computing, biological imaging and renewable energy.

I'm really excited to work with other faculty members at Cornell to advance in situ transmission electron microscopy experiments, correlating changes in electrical properties as the nanoscale materials undergo phase transitions at cryogenic temperatures, Cha said. The collaborative environment and long-established research centers at Cornell enable big projects to be undertaken.

Chas homecoming will reunite the professor with her doctoral adviser, David Muller, the Samuel B. Eckert Professor of Engineering and task force member of NEXT Nano.

I think my group fits nicely with the efforts defined in the NEXT Nano initiative, as we can provide nanoscale topological materials for other groups for sophisticated measurements, Cha said. My primary research focus is on nanowires of topological materials and, currently, I'm looking at a class of topological metals that can rival copper for quantum computing and low-resistance interconnection applications.

Cha is the recipient of the Moore Foundation EPiQS Materials Synthesis Award, the Nano Research Young Innovator Award in Nano Energy, and the National Science Foundation CAREER Award, among other accolades.

Kwan to build on legacy of Watt Webb

Kwans research focuses on the medial frontal cortex of the brain. Specifically, his research group uses cellular-resolution optical imaging tools to record neural activity in mice, with applications in understanding psychiatric drugs and the mechanisms underlying mental disorders.

The optical tools used by Kwan can be traced back to his days as a Cornell doctoral student in the laboratory of Watt Webb, the late applied physicist whose imaging techniques revolutionized how scientists observe biological dynamics deep within living tissue. It was in Webbs lab that Kwan developed nonlinear optical microscopes like the ones he uses today to observe the inner workings of the brain.

Watt Webb was a special scientist becausehe always had this sense of wonder every discovery,big or small, was anexciting moment, Kwan said. I try to do the same for my lab, and I believethere is no better place for the students to learn how to do science than at Cornell.

Kwans research focus will be of particular value to the Cornell Neurotech initiative, which aims to develop technologies for revealing how individual brain cells activity in complex neural circuits underlies behavior. He also is expected to develop strong collaborations with Weill Cornell Medicines Department of Psychiatry, according to Marjolein van der Meulen, James M. and Marsha McCormick Director of the Meinig School of Biomedical Engineering.

We are excited to have Alex join us as his neural circuit focus is unique and strengthens our neuroscience community within the school and across campus, van der Meulen said. He also adds to our strong imaging and instrumentation effort, bringing expertise in optogenetics, the stimulation and suppression of activity with light.

Kwans research is supported by multiple grants from the National Institutes of Mental Health and the Simons Foundation. He will join the Cornell faculty in 2022.

I look forward to forming new collaborations at Cornell, Kwan said. Its exciting that even though my lab is still preparing forthe move, we have already started talking with people at Cornell aboutnewmicroscopy techniques that can overcome imaging limitations.

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Alumni return to Cornell as key faculty in university initiatives | Cornell - Cornell Chronicle