QEC & BeyondRUTGERS · ONLINE SEMINAR
A SHARED SPACE FOR QUANTUM IDEAS
FALL 2026 SEASON 04NEXT TALK #39

Rutgers Quantum Computing Seminar

QEC &
Beyond.

Theory, systems, and applications.
One conversation at a time.

A weekly online seminar connecting people and ideas across quantum computing. Come to share, to learn, and to ask what comes next.

Quantum computing researchA stylized three-wire circuit with a Hadamard gate and two controlled operations, representing the seminar’s research scope.q₀q₁q₂H
Quantum error correction.

Research talks on quantum codes, decoding, and fault-tolerant computation.

Weekly, online.

One-hour sessions. A talk, then a conversation.Across institutions. Across disciplines.
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Dhanvi BharadwajUniversity of Michigan
C-Phase-Aware Compilation for Efficient Fault-Tolerant Quantum Execution
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Quantum error correction.
And everything beyond.

Evolving from the Rutgers QEC Reading Group, QEC & Beyond brings students, researchers, and practitioners together across institutions and disciplines.

We explore the breadth of quantum computing, from error-correction theory and algorithms to software and applications. Bring your research, your work in progress, or simply your questions.

37Seminar talks delivered
12Institutions represented
3Seasons completed

A year of shared ideas.
Across the first three seasons.

The software behind
the quantum future.

This fall: quantum compilation and simulation for the FTQC era.

RESEARCH. TOOLS.
IDEAS IN PROGRESS.
OCT28WEDNESDAY, 20261:05 PM–2:05 PM EDT12:05 PM–1:05 PM CDTONLINE VIA ZOOM
SEASON 4 / TALK 1SERIES TALK #38

How to build a wicked fast quantum circuit optimizer

Aws Albarghouthi
Aws AlbarghouthiUniversity of Wisconsin-Madison

How can quantum circuit optimizers scale to millions—or billions—of operations? Explore fast, scalable optimization built around a simple idea: every pass is a linear scan.

Read abstract & speaker bio

Abstract

Quantum circuit optimizers are critical components of the quantum computing pipeline: they reduce circuit size so that computations can run on a given quantum device more quickly and with a lower probability of error. The kinds of quantum computations that we expect to achieve quantum advantage, such as Shor’s algorithm and quantum chemistry simulations, may require millions or even billions of operations. How can we scale quantum circuit optimizers to handle such large circuits?

This talk is about building fast, scalable optimizers based on a simple philosophy: an optimizer should implement a sequence of passes, each consisting of a linear scan through the circuit. By ensuring that each pass runs in linear time, we allow the optimizer to gracefully scale with circuit size. We will present novel linear-time algorithms for phase folding and other stages of optimization, and demonstrate orders-of-magnitude improvements over existing optimization tools and algorithms.

tzap project benchmark; original speaker-supplied research figureExplore tzap on GitHub ↗

About the speaker

Aws Albarghouthi is an associate professor of computer science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He received his PhD from the University of Toronto in 2015. He works in the field of programming languages and formal methods and over the past few years he has been focused on building the software stack for future quantum computers. He has received several paper awards for his work, an NSF CAREER award, and multiple awards from industry.

THE FULL PROGRAM

Fall 2026 Seminar Schedule

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All times Eastern. “Week of” indicates tentative scheduling; exact dates and times will be announced.

Fall 2026 seminar schedule, updated October 28, 2026. Tentative weeks have no confirmed time.
DateTime (ET)Title or topicSpeaker / affiliationRecording
Oct 28, 20261:05 PM–2:05 PMHow to build a wicked fast quantum circuit optimizerTalk details ↓Aws AlbarghouthiUniversity of Wisconsin-MadisonNot yet available
Nov 4, 20262:00 PM–3:00 PMC-Phase-Aware Compilation for Efficient Fault-Tolerant Quantum ExecutionTalk details ↓Dhanvi BharadwajUniversity of MichiganNot yet available
WEEK OFNov 9, 2026GeneCS: Synthesizing Resource-Efficient Code Surgery for Arbitrary Quantum Stabilizer CodesJunyu ZhouUniversity of Pennsylvania
WEEK OFNov 16, 2026Topic to be announcedRafael HaenelQuEra Computing
WEEK OFNov 23, 2026Sdim: A Qudit Stabilizer SimulatorAdeeb KabirRutgers University
WEEK OFNov 30, 2026LightStim: A Framework for QEC Protocol Evaluation and Prototyping with Automated DEM ConstructionXiang FangUniversity of California San Diego
WEEK OFDec 7, 2026Surface code compilation and decodingSiyuan NiuUniversity of Central Florida
WEEK OFDec 14, 2026SpiderState: Scalable Fault-Tolerant CAT and CSS State PreparationSarah Meng LiUniversity of Amsterdam
Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica (CWI)
WEEK OFDec 21, 2026Quantum OS for QECRunzhou TaoUniversity of Maryland, College Park

Updated October 28, 2026 Get email updates

Good ideas
have a history.

37 talks across three seasons. Search past conversations, revisit the papers, and explore shared slides and recordings.

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SELECTED PAST SPEAKER AFFILIATIONS

Carnegie Mellon UniversityFordham UniversityLehigh UniversityPacific Northwest National LaboratorySeoul National UniversityUCLAUniversity of Colorado BoulderUniversity of WashingtonUniversity of Wisconsin-MadisonYale UniversityYonsei UniversityRutgers University

Affiliations of previous speakers.

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