September 26, 2005 Source: University of Waterloo:
http://newsrelease.uwaterloo.ca/news.php?id=4596 Raymond Laflamme named Ivey Foundation Fellow of CIAR WATERLOO, Ont. -- The director of the Institute for Quantum Computing at the University of Waterloo has a new distinction to add to his lengthy curriculum vitae. Prof. Raymond Laflamme has been named the Ivey Foundation Fellow of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIAR). In supporting his research, the Ivey Foundation (formerly The Richard Ivey Foundation) has become one of the founding supporters of CIAR's Quantum Information Processing (QIP) Program. Laflamme has been the director of the program since 2002. Quantum Information Processing is a very young field that promises exponential increases in computing power, likely in the form of a quantum computer. The goal of the QIP Program is to harness the laws of quantum mechanics and turn them to our advantage in order to improve the acquisition, transmission, storage and processing of information. The questions at the core of the investigation are: What is the origin of the power of quantum information? What can we do with quantum information? How do we build devices that can behave quantum mechanically so that we can take advantage of quantum mechanics? "We are very excited about the intellectual challenges posed by the QIP Program," said Bruce Lourie, President of the Ivey Foundation. "We look forward to having Dr. Raymond Laflamme be the new Ivey Foundation Fellow at CIAR and to following his work closely." "Quantum mechanics was discovered more than a hundred years ago, but it is only recently that we learned of its tremendous power to manipulate information." "The QIP Program has allowed us to bring together an international team of mathematicians, computer scientists and physicists to harness its power and open the doors to a new world of unexpected discoveries, from fundamental concepts to new technological developments," Laflamme said. The Ivey Foundation has supported a variety of CIAR Programs since 1986 (Artificial Intelligence and Robotics, Population Health, and Evolutionary Biology), helping to build and sustain the institute's capacity for leading-edge discoveries in each of these fields. "Once again, the Ivey Foundation is demonstrating its astute intellectual insight in choosing to support the emerging field of QIP," said Chaviva Hosek, President and CEO of CIAR. "Canada has great potential to lead the world in this area of research." The Ivey Foundation is a private charitable foundation located in Toronto. It was incorporated on Dec. 31, 1947 by the late Richard G. Ivey, LL.D., Q.C. and his son, Richard M. Ivey, C.C., LL.D., Q.C. The foundation's mission is to improve and enrich the well-being of Canadians by focusing its energy and resources on selected issues of significance. Laflamme is one of the world's leading researchers in the study of quantum devices. He co-founded the Institute for Quantum Computing at Waterloo, where seven out of 18 CIAR QIP Program Members are based. He also holds a Canada Research Chair in Quantum Information. He completed his PhD in Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics at Cambridge University, under the direction of esteemed physicist Stephen Hawking. He and a colleague are responsible for changing Hawking's mind on the reversal of the direction of time in a contracting universe. CIAR is a pan-Canadian and international research institute committed to identifying significant intellectual questions in the natural and human sciences, as well as bringing together top researchers to collaborate closely on them. The QIP Program is one of 12 leading-edge research initiatives currently being led by CIAR. There are more than 250 eminent researchers collaborating through CIAR, representing over 80 different research institutions and universities in 13 countries. Contact:
Adele Newton, Institute for Quantum Computing, (519) 888-4567, ext.
7210; anewton@iqc.ca
Frank Vetere, CIAR, (416) 971-4450; fvetere@ciar.ca
Martin Van Nierop, UW Communications & Public Affairs, (519)
888-4881; vanierop@uwaterloo.ca
John Morris, UW Media Relations, (519) 888-4435; jmorris@uwaterloo.ca
Release no. 213 -- September 26, 2005
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