ORNL hosts Southeastern Quantum Conference

The Department of Energy's (DOE) Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) convened scientists, engineers and technology leaders for the 2026 Southeastern Quantum Conference (SQC), bringing together experts from academia, national laboratories, industry and government to advance quantum information science and strengthen collaborations that support U.S. competitiveness.

Hosted by ORNL, the three-day conference focused on quantum networking, quantum computing, quantum sensing, quantum materials and national security. Through plenary presentations, technical sessions and panel discussions, participants explored how quantum technologies are converging with artificial intelligence and high-performance computing to accelerate scientific discovery and transition research into real-world applications. The conference also highlighted partnerships that support DOE's Genesis Mission and the nation's growing quantum innovation ecosystem.

"The pace of innovation in quantum science depends on bringing together expertise from across the research community," said Gina Tourassi, associate laboratory director for ORNL's Computing and Computational Sciences Directorate, who welcomed attendees with Cynthia Jenks, associate laboratory director for ORNL's Physical Sciences Directorate. "The Southeastern Quantum Conference creates opportunities for new partnerships that advance discovery and help move quantum technologies toward practical impact."

A featured panel of directors from DOE's five National Quantum Information Science Research Centers (NQISRC) highlighted how the nation's quantum ecosystem is evolving from foundational research to scalable technologies and scientific applications. Travis Humble, director of the Quantum Science Center (QSC) headquartered at ORNL, joined fellow center directors to discuss the future of quantum research and the complementary roles each center plays in advancing DOE's mission.

"The question is no longer simply how to build quantum computers. It's how we use them," Humble said. "The future lies in integrating quantum technologies with AI and high-performance computing to create hybrid scientific workflows that solve problems beyond the reach of conventional computing. That's how we'll deliver scientific impact and create the quantum ecosystem needed for the post-exascale era."

Humble highlighted ORNL's leadership in developing hybrid quantum-classical computing architectures that combine leadership-class supercomputers with emerging quantum technologies to accelerate scientific discovery. He pointed to OpenQSE, an international collaboration developing common hybrid computing architectures, as an example of how partnerships are helping define the next generation of scientific computing. He also noted that the QSC integrates computational science, experimental research and decision science to develop practical quantum technologies, new measurement techniques and scalable solutions for DOE missions.

Panelists agreed that the NQISRCs have matured into complementary organizations with distinct strengths while sharing common priorities, including scalable quantum hardware, improved materials, algorithms, resource estimation and workforce development. They also emphasized that AI is becoming an increasingly important tool for designing quantum materials, controlling quantum systems and accelerating scientific discovery.

The conference concluded with a panel moderated by ORNL Deputy for Science and Technology Susan Hubbard that explored the partnerships, policies and workforce needed to sustain U.S. leadership in quantum technologies. Panelists highlighted near-term opportunities in quantum sensing for national security, space exploration and medical imaging, as well as quantum-enabled materials discovery, while emphasizing closer collaboration between industry and researchers to move breakthroughs toward deployment. They also called for greater public awareness of quantum's potential to build support for continued investment and stressed that U.S. leadership will depend on strong industry-research partnerships and a workforce pipeline that attracts and retains top talent.

The conference featured plenary presentations from researchers at the University of California, Santa Barbara; the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; the University of New Mexico; and Penn State University, alongside industry leaders from IonQ, NVIDIA, Rigetti, Quantum Machines and Qblox, who discussed advances in quantum networking, computing, sensing, materials and scalable hardware.

The keynote of the conference, "A Journey Through Open Problems in Quantum Information and Quantum Computing,"was made by Sabre Kais, who serves as the Goodnight Distinguished Chair in quantum computing at North Carolina State University. ORNL researchers played prominent roles throughout the program, with Gilles Buchs, Yanbao Zhang, Mariam Kiran, Ben Lawrie, Craig Moss, Daniel Claudino, Alysha Tackett, Ashlyn Burch, Josh Damron, Matt Brahlek, Nick Peters, Teja Kuruganti, Carter Christopher and Phil Evans organizing sessions and leading discussions on topics ranging from quantum networking and secure communications to national security and resilient infrastructure.

ORNL research advances quantum technologies beyond the lab

The conference also showcased ORNL research across the quantum ecosystem, including presentations by Sumner Harris on AI-guided quantum materials synthesis and Nirjhar Sarkar on superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors, along with contributed talks from researchers across the laboratory. ORNL intern Tiara Hill earned the conference's Best Poster Award for her presentation on QSC workflow management during the poster session.

Quantum networking emerged as a key capability to scale quantum systems to improve their usefulness. Speakers discussed both the technological progress and strategic importance of building scalable, secure quantum communication systems. Sessions covered how quantum communications can be enabled over existing classical infrastructure, the role of quantum-enabled secure end-to-end operations for national security and decision superiority, and the development of heterogeneous quantum networks using platforms such as ion traps, integrated photonics and deployed fiber hardware. Breakout sessions emphasized the growing role of AI and machine learning in quantum network control, characterization and optimization. Overall, the conference underscored that advances in hardware, networking architectures, security and control are all essential to realizing practical quantum networks.

"Our current society is based upon innovations rooted in scientific discovery, constantly running in the background, largely unknown to those who benefit until a disruption occurs," said Nick Peters, who serves as section head of the Quantum Information Section at ORNL. "The conference and many of us at ORNL are exploring broad applications of quantum technology and if we are successful, the work represented at the Southeastern Quantum Conference will benefit society in ways that will be hard to imagine today."

The SQC reflects ORNL's strategy of integrating high-performance computing, artificial intelligence and quantum information science to create a converged computing ecosystem for scientific discovery. Through partnerships across the research community, ORNL continues to advance quantum technologies that strengthen U.S. leadership in science, energy and national security while helping define the future of scientific computing.

UT-Battelle manages ORNL for DOE's Office of Science, the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States. DOE's Office of Science is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, visit https://energy.gov/science. - Mark Alewine