Quantum Technologies Forum
July 28th, 2022 8:00am-10:00am EST Virtual, ON24
With a more comprehensive understanding of complex quantum phenomena, we’re on the precipice of the second quantum revolution, which has the potential to produce revolutionary quantum technologies with invaluable uses across civilian, military and government missions.
This second generation of quantum is expected to have transformational applications in multiple areas including warfare, supply chain optimization, artificial intelligence, machine learning, cybersecurity, drug discovery and command and control systems.
The U.S. government has been significantly accelerating its quantum technology research and development efforts for defense and national security uses. Currently, corporations and government agencies are working to achieve cutting-edge quantum capabilities as the global quantum competition intensifies. However, new quantum technologies and potential defense applications introduce military strategies, doctrines and scenarios that pose new ethical issues that must be addressed as the second quantum revolution unfolds.
The Quantum Technologies Forum, hosted by ExecutiveBiz Events, gathers distinguished quantum thought leaders, government officials and industry executives in a timely discussion surrounding the future of novel quantum technologies for critical national security and military initiatives in the global race for quantum supremacy.
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Dr. John Burke -
Principal Director, Quantum Science (OUSD R&E), U.S. Department of Defense (DOD)
Dr. John Burke joined the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering (OUSD (R&E)) for Science and Technology (S&T) as the Principal Director for Quantum Science in March 2022. In this role, Dr. Burke is responsible for leading the Department of Defense’s (DoD) strategy for quantum science, one of DoD’s top critical technology areas. Prior to joining OUSD (R&E), Dr. Burke served as a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Program Manager in the Microsystems Technology Office (MTO) and Defense Sciences Office (DSO) from 2017 to 2022. At DARPA, he managed seven programs developing quantum science and technology. Some of these programs advanced quantum sensors including atom interferometers, atomic clocks, magnetometers, and radio frequency (RF) “Quantum Apertures” and applied the sensors toward new capabilities in position, navigation and timing (PNT), biotechnology, as well as in the RF spectrum. Several programs advanced quantum computing qubit technologies based on both superconducting and photon-based platforms. This work resulted in several technology transitions to higher maturity development programs across the DoD, as acknowledged by his receipt of the DARPA “Results Matter” Award. Previously, Dr. Burke worked in the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) Space Vehicles Directorate as a Senior Research Physicist. There, Dr. Burke led a research team developing atomic clocks, optical time transfer, and cold atom measurement techniques for use in space applications such as the Global Positioning System. He contributed to space experiments including the NASA Cold Atom Laboratory for the International Space Station and the Navigation Technology Satellite -3. Dr. Burke won the AFRL Early Career Award and R-NASA National Award for Space Achievement in recognition for his contributions, multiple publications, and patents. Dr. Burke holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Physics from Centre College and a Doctorate of Philosophy degree in Physics from the University of Virginia. His thesis work was on atom interferometry with guided matter waves sourced from a Bose Einstein Condensate, which won the University of Virginia Award for Excellence in Scholarship in Science and Engineering.
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Dr. Tatjana Curcic -
Program Manager, Defense Sciences Office (DSO), Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA)
Dr. Tatjana Curcic joined DARPA as a program manager in the Defense Sciences Office in October 2018. Her interests are in accelerating the development of quantum information technologies and discovering new applications in a range of areas from sensing to information processing with noisy qubits. Prior to joining DARPA, Curcic was a program officer at the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) for the Quantum Information Science and Atomic and Molecular Physics programs. She managed a portfolio that supported basic research on five continents. She has served on a number of government panels and boards, including the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) Quantum Information Science (QIS) Working Group. In 2017, Curcic served as the founding director of Quantum Valley Ideas Laboratories, a not-for-profit applied-research organization for the development of quantum technologies in Waterloo, Ontario. Earlier in her career, she worked as a science and technology consultant to DARPA, while employed by Booz Allen Hamilton. Curcic received her Master of Science and doctorate in physics from Cornell University, and her Bachelor of Science in physics from the University of Belgrade in Serbia.
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Chester Kennedy -
Executive Advisor, Infleqtion
Selected by Florida Trend as one of the Florida 500 most influential business leaders for several years in a row, Chester Kennedy exercises his passion for technology and his love for the Central Florida region through independent strategic consulting engagements. Kennedy was also named by Orlando Magazine as one of the 50 most powerful people in the region and a “Game Changer” by the Orlando Business Journal. Kennedy is dedicated to helping organizations understand the opportunities and possible disruptive threats that the accelerating pace of technology evolution present to a variety of traditional industries. Recently, Kennedy served as the Chief Executive Officer of BRIDG from 2015 to 2020, where he expanded upon his 35 years of aerospace and commercial electronics industries experience to successfully lead the organization through the complex phases of building a microelectronics fabrication facility. Kennedy continued to lead BRIDG through the establishment of a robust customer base; a combination consisting of Federal and industry contracts which are key to transitioning industry into the new era driven by cyber-secure innovation and the Internet of Things. Before founding his consulting company and launching BRIDG, Kennedy spent 30 years at Lockheed Martin and its heritage organizations. During his tenure at Lockheed Martin, Kennedy worked every phase of the program life cycle – from concept development though capture, development and production. His experience spans from basic engineering roles to numerous management positions within engineering, business development, and program management. He spent several years working a strategic assignment on the corporate staff. He is a graduate of many executive development programs and spent the last 12 years of his Lockheed Martin career serving at the Vice President level in four different organizational combinations within the corporation; most recently as Vice President and Chief Engineer of Training and Logistics Solutions at Lockheed Martin Mission Systems and Training. In addition to his passion for the region and the transformative power of technology to improve lives, Kennedy is a huge advocate for STEM-based education. His commitment is proven through his engagement on numerous boards and his sincere desire to create opportunities for others. Kennedy holds a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Tennessee and a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from the Florida Institute of Technology. In his spare time, Kennedy loves spending time both on the water and in the air. He is a dedicated general aviation pilot and a lifelong student of the intersections of technology, business growth, and economic impact.
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Dr. Mark Lewis -
Chief Executive Officer, Purdue Applied Research Institute LLC
Dr. Mark J. Lewis is the Executive Director of NDIA’s Emerging Technologies Institute (NDIA ETI), a non-partisan think tank focused on technologies that are critical to the future of national defense. ETI provides research and analyses to inform the development and integration of emerging technologies into the defense industrial base. Prior to this position, Dr. Lewis was the Director of Defense Research & Engineering in the Department of Defense (DoD), overseeing technology modernization for all Services and DoD Agencies, as well as the acting Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Research & Engineering. In that role, he was the Pentagon’s senior-most scientist, managing a $17B budget that included DARPA, the Missile Defense Agency, the Defense Innovation Unit, the Space Development Agency, Federally Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDC), and the Department’s basic and applied research portfolio. From 2012 to 2019, Dr. Lewis was the Director of the Science and Technology Policy Institute, an FFRDC that supported the Executive Office of the President and other Executive Branch agencies in the formulation of national science and technology policy. Dr. Lewis is a professor emeritus at the University of Maryland, where he served as the Willis Young, Jr., Professor and Chair of the Department of Aerospace Engineering until 2012. A faculty member at Maryland for 25 years, Dr. Lewis taught and conducted basic and applied research in the fields of hypersonic aerodynamics, advanced propulsion, and space vehicle design and optimization. Best known for his work in hypersonics, Dr. Lewis’s research has spanned the aerospace flight spectrum from the analysis of conventional jet engines to entry into planetary atmospheres. From 2004 to 2008, Dr. Lewis was the Chief Scientist of the U.S. Air Force, the principal scientific adviser to the Chief of Staff and Secretary of the Air Force. As the longest-serving Chief Scientist in Air Force history, his primary areas of focus included hypersonics, space launch, energy, sustainment, advanced propulsion, basic research, and workforce development. From 2010 to 2011, he was President of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Dr. Lewis attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he received his Bachelor of Science in Aeronautics and Astronautics, Bachelor of Science in Earth and Planetary Science (1984), and Master of Science (1985) and Doctor of Science (1988) in Aeronautics and Astronautics. He is the author of more than 320 publications and has been an adviser to more than 60 graduate students. In addition, he has served on various boards for NASA and DoD, including two terms on the Air Force Scientific Advisory Board. A recipient of the USAF Exemplary, Meritorious, and Exceptional Civilian Service Awards, and of the Secretary of Defense Outstanding Public Service Award, Dr. Lewis was also the 1994 AIAA National Capital Young Scientist/Engineer of the Year; received the IECEC/AIAA Lifetime Achievement Award, the AIAA Dryden Lectureship Award, and the AFA Theodore von Karman Award; and is an Aviation Week and Space Technology Laureate. He is a member of the International Academy of Astronautics, a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society, and an Honorary Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.
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Dr. Dustin Moody -
Mathematician, Computer Security Division, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
Dustin Moody is a mathematician in the NIST Computer Security Division. Dustin leads the post-quantum cryptography project at NIST. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Washington in 2009. His area of research deals with elliptic curves and their applications in cryptography.
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Heather Penney -
Senior Resident Fellow, The Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies
Prior to joining Mitchell, Penney worked over a decade in the defense industry focusing on defense budgets, supporting program execution, and capturing campaign management. She served in the Washington, DC Air National Guard flying F-16s and G-100s; she has also served in the Air Force Reserve in the National Military Command Center. She has also lectured extensively on subjects such as Air Force capabilities and force structure, organizational command and control, reforming the defense personnel system, and other defense policy issues to a broad number of organizations, universities, and military institutions. She’s a recognized expert on defense policy issues concerning data rights, unmanned systems, software maintenance and operations, autonomy, and force structure considerations. Penney is established voice on Mosaic warfare, JADC2, and future operational concepts associated with information architectures. Penney received her undergraduate degree from Purdue University, majoring in English with a minor in Philosophy. She earned her MA in American Studies from Purdue University as well.
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8:00am - 8:05am EST
Welcome & Opening Remarks
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8:05am - 8:45am EST
Keynote Address: Dr. John Burke
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8:45am - 9:45am EST
Paths to Increasing Quantum Technology Manufacturing Capacity in the US and with US Allies
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9:45am - 9:50am EST
Closing Comments
