Brown CS News

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT’s) Interdisciplinary Quantum Hackathon (iQuHACK) is an annual event that aims to bring students from a diverse set of backgrounds, from high school through early-career professionals, to explore improvements and applications of near-term quantum devices. This year’s iteration was held from January 30 to February 1 and offered an in-person hackathon where participants developed and tested their code on real quantum hardware as well as a virtual hackathon for remote attendees.

The event featured participation from more than 400 university students from across the country and 1,000 students from 76 different countries participating virtually. Sponsors included NVIDIA, IonQ, IQM, QuEra, Superquantum, Alice & Bob, Quantum Rings, Nord Quantique, qBraid, BlueQuibit, Classiq, and Quantum Design. 

Brown CS concentrators on three separate teams came home with awards: 
 

First Place in the IQM Challenge

• Jeff Burka (not Brown-affiliated)
• Brown student Atharv Chowdhary
• Brown student Hugo Mullen
• Brown CS student Simon Nirenberg, a joint APMA-CS concentrator

First Place in the Quantum Rings Challenge

• Brown CS student Woody Hulse
• Brown CS student Patrick Jennings
• Brown student Hayden Miller
• Brown student Rohan Pankaj
• Brown CS student Caden Schroeder

Third Place in the IQM Challenge

• Brown CS student Julius Hochberg
• Brown student Leo Li
• Brown CS student Johanna Nguyen, a joint APMA-CS concentrator
• David Ou of Boston University

Following the 2023 iQuHACK, four Brown University students developed two student organizations that continue to this day: Brown Quantum Initiative (BQI), a graduate student organization, and the Quantum Computing Club, an undergraduate student organization. 

This year’s winners join multiple prior Brown CS winners from the 2023 and 2024 events. 

For more information, click the following link to contact Brown CS Communications Manager Jesse C. Polhemus.