Next Florida Tech Public Science Lecture Discusses Quantum Computing Nov. 22

MELBOURNE, FLA.—The next Community Science Lecture Series presentation at Florida Institute of Technology will be “Quantum Computing,” presented by Scott Tilley, computer sciences professor. The 8-9 p.m. lecture is free and open to the public in the F.W. Olin Engineering Complex, Room EC118, on campus. There will be a rooftop public star viewing following the presentation if weather permits.

Albert Einstein called it spooky. He was referring to entanglement, or when two particles share the same properties even while separated by long distances. Quantum computers make use of entanglement to work their magic.

Traditional computers manipulate bits. In a quantum computer information is encoded in qubits, which allows certain problems to be solved exponentially faster than with a regular computer. Problems like cryptography, which are at the heart of secret communications and credit card transactions, are currently “unbreakable” but become solvable in real time. “Quantum computing represents the biggest change in information technology since the introduction of vacuum tubes,” said Tilley.

Tilley is also a professor of information systems in the Nathan M. Bisk College of Business, an associate member of the Harris Institute for Assured Information, and a visiting scientist at Carnegie Mellon University’s Software Engineering Institute. The author of “Software Testing in the Cloud: Migration & Execution,” he writes the weekly “Technology Today” column for Florida Today.

The F.W. Olin Engineering Complex is located on West University Boulevard. For more information, call (321) 674-7207or visit http://cos.fit.edu/pss/aapls.php.