Quantum User Group (QUG) Monthly BYO Lunch and Learn - July

NCSA, in collaboration with IQUIST, invites you to the monthly Quantum User Group gatherings for the campus community.

The Quantum User Group (QUG) is being formed to bring together several efforts that have been underway and to raise awareness of activities of which members of the campus community may wish to take advantage. The QUG creates a forum for interaction and information sharing in order to facilitate growing the local community of researchers with interest in quantum computing and raise awareness about emerging quantum computing capabilities and for those exploring the use of hybrid classical/quantum computing to share their experiences--both successes and challenges-with others. 

We encourage researchers with challenging research problems that can potentially benefit from quantum computing along with those who are curious about this to help determine the potential for benefiting your research to participate.  Graduate students and postdocs affiliated with research in classical as well as quantum computing and all campus community members interested in quantum computing are also encouraged to attend.

Dr. Praveen Kumar serves as Executive Director of the Prairie Research Institute (PRI), which houses all five Illinois State Scientific Surveys and supports the state through scientific and policy guidance. He oversees all policy and operational decisions across PRI. He directed the NSF-funded Intensively Managed Landscapes Critical Zone Observatory (IMLCZO, 2013–2021) and directs the NSF-funded Critical Interface Network (CINet, 2020–2026).

His research centers on Hydrocomplexity: the quantitative prediction of emergent patterns arising from nonlinear, multi-scale interactions among soil, water, climate, vegetation, and human systems. His contributions have reshaped understanding of Earth system complexity: (i) discovering that geophysical spatio-temporal fluctuations exhibit scaling, transforming rainfall downscaling, flood forecasting, and climate modeling; (ii) developing a foundational concept of information flow among Earth system components, now widely used to model nonlinear dependencies across science and engineering; (iii) advancing precipitation-recycling models that quantify land–atmosphere coupling, informing assessments of land-use change, drought propagation, and climate feedbacks; (iv) pioneering climate-resilient crop engineering that jointly optimizes water use, yield, and albedo; (v) leading interdisciplinary Critical Zone research yielding tools for practitioners confronting soil degradation, water pollution, and unsustainable agriculture; (vi) developing a sustainable solution to global water scarcity through direct capture of water vapor over oceans; and (vii) harnessing artificial intelligence and machine learning for environmental modeling and decision support, translating complex Earth system data into actionable predictions.

Through these advances, Dr. Kumar stands as a global leader translating fundamental Earth system science into solutions for pressing environmental challenges.