Renowned quantum researcher and founding director of Chicago Quantum Exchange and Q-NEXT joins quantum networking industry leader to accelerate path to quantum advantage
CHICAGO, Aug. 20, 2025 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- memQ™, the industry leader in quantum networking solutions for distributed quantum computing, announced today the appointment of Professor David Awschalom to the company's advisory board. Professor Awschalom is a globally recognized pioneer in the field of quantum science and currently serves as a distinguished professor at the University of Chicago as well as holding the position of senior scientist at Argonne National Laboratory.
A luminary in the quantum engineering and quantum computing fields, Professor Awschalom is the Liew Family Professor and Director of Quantum Science and Engineering at the University of Chicago Pritzker School for Molecular Engineering, in addition to his role as Senior Scientist at Argonne National Laboratory. He was the Founding Director of the Chicago Quantum Exchange, the inaugural Director of Q-NEXT, one of the US DOE Quantum Information Science Research Centers, and has been integral to the emerging quantum ecosystem in Chicago and the State of Illinois. His work spans the fields of spintronics and quantum information engineering, exploring and controlling the spins of electrons, nuclei, and photons in semiconductors and molecules. Professor Awschalom has been recognized with the American Physical Society Oliver Buckley Prize and Julius Edgar Lilienfeld Prize, the European Physical Society Europhysics Prize, the Materials Research Society David Turnbull Award and Outstanding Investigator Prize, the AAAS Newcomb Cleveland Prize, the International Magnetism Prize from the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics, an IBM Outstanding Innovation Award, and recently received a U.S. Secretary of Energy Achievement Award.
"Quantum networking is a strength of the Midwest quantum ecosystem, and one with the potential to drive future innovations by amplifying the power of quantum computers," Professor Awschalom said. "As memQ continues to shape this future, I'm pleased to have the opportunity to provide their team with direct insight and assistance. They are a valued member of the Illinois-Wisconsin-Indiana quantum ecosystem, and I look forward to their continued progress."
This year has seen significant technological breakthroughs as well as massive investment in the quantum ecosystem. McKinsey & Company recently released their Quantum Technology Monitor report, positing that this surging investment and faster-than-expected innovation could propel the quantum market to $100B in a decade. In that report, they assess the quantum communications sector in which memQ has developed leading technology as up to $15B in the same timeframe. The expertise and insight to be gained from Professor Awschalom's involvement will be invaluable as the company releases technology and products that bring scale, modular growth, and cooperative processing environments by connecting quantum computers from various vendors on a common network that preserves the quantum state.
"Professor Awschalom is on everyone's short-list of top quantum industry researchers worldwide," stated Manish Kumar Singh, CEO of memQ. "His insight and experience in developing leading solutions for the emerging quantum ecosystem will be invaluable to us moving forward."
About memQ™
Founded in 2021 as a technology spin-out from the University of Chicago, memQ is dedicated to enabling the scalable implementation of quantum computing through standards-based connectivity across optical connections between quantum computers anywhere. The company's portfolio provides secure connectivity and control across local, campus, metro, and wide-area quantum compute resources with high-fidelity and low-loss, regardless of qubit structures employed. More information is available at www.memq.tech.
Media Contact
Manish Kumar Singh, memQ, Inc., 1 312-536-1855, [email protected] , memQ, Inc.
SOURCE memQ, Inc.
Share this article