Andrew Childs Awarded Kirwan Faculty Research and Scholarship Prize

Andrew Childs, a professor of computer science and director of the NSF Quantum Leap Challenge Institute for Robust Quantum Simulation (RQS), has been awarded the 2024 Kirwan Faculty Research and Scholarship Prize.

Established by former University of Maryland President William E. Kirwan and Patricia Kirwan, the prize is bestowed each year to a faculty member in recognition of their outstanding contributions to original research or scholarship.

A leading scientist in the field of quantum algorithms, Childs has helped develop both theoretical foundations and practical applications for quantum computers, which have the potential to address problems that are beyond the reach of traditional computational methods.

Childs earned his B.S. in physics at the California Institute of Technology and his Ph.D. in the same field at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. After serving on the faculty at the University of Waterloo, he arrived at UMD in 2014 and became a professor in computer science and the University of Maryland Institute for Advanced Computer Studies with a joint appointment in physics in 2017.

From 2014 to 2024, Childs co-directed the Joint Center for Quantum Information and Computer Science, and he has directed RQS since 2021. At RQS, founded with a $25 million grant from the National Science Foundation, he is helping to apply quantum computing to the study of physical phenomena, with profound implications for both basic science and technology development in chemistry, physics, materials science and more.

Two papers written with Childs’ former Ph.D. student Yuan Su and other coauthors—“Nearly Optimal Lattice Simulation by Product Formulas,” published in Physical Review Letters in 2019 and “Theory of Trotter Error with Commutator Scaling,” published in Physical Review X in 2021—developed techniques to reduce the resources required for quantum computers to simulate and study quantum systems. Ninety-seven other papers authored or co-authored by Childs have collectively been cited more than 15,000 times.

“This work represents a crucial advancement in the field, addressing challenges that have long hindered progress and has influenced many members of the scientific community that, like me, are working on that field,” wrote physicist Ignacio Cirac of the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics in a nomination later.

Although the practical deployment of quantum computers has been an arduous process, Childs’ colleagues say, his theoretical work has left a deep impression on the field.

“When the day comes that quantum computers fulfill hopes of contributing to solutions for broad societal problems, such as energy needs and climate change, I have no doubt that the success will have been made possible in large part due to the insights and innovations created by Andrew Childs,” said Isaac Chuang, a professor in MIT’s physics and electrical engineering and computer science departments.

Childs will receive the Kirwan award at the Faculty & Staff Convocation on September 18, 2024, in the Memorial Chapel.