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Midwest Quantum Collaboratory connects eight universities in quantum network

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August 25, 2026 by Ivy Delaney

Eight universities now comprise the Midwest Quantum Collaboratory, significantly broadening the region’s collective quantum capabilities. Ohio State University officially joined the coalition during Entanglement 2026, its annual meeting, bringing strengths in computing, sensing, and networking communications anchored by the recently launched Center for Quantum Information Science and Engineering.

“For Ohio State, joining the Midwest Quantum Collaboratory represents an important opportunity to amplify the impact of our extraordinary quantum research through strategic regional partnerships,” said John M. Horack, vice president for research at Ohio State. The expansion unites researchers across physics, engineering, mathematics, chemistry and computer science and builds on recent investments, including a $4 million National Science Foundation award for quantum sensing.

Eight Universities Unite in Midwest Quantum Collaboratory

The Midwest Quantum Collaboratory has expanded to include eight universities, forging a concentrated regional effort to accelerate advances in quantum technology. This expansion builds on recent investments totaling $4 million from the National Science Foundation, awarded to a multi-institutional consortium led by Ohio State to advance quantum sensing.

The consortium also includes fellow MQC member, the University of Michigan. Ezekiel Johnston-Halperin, co-director of CQISE and professor of physics, explained that “MQC creates a powerful framework for connecting the extraordinary quantum expertise that exists across the Midwest.” Researchers at Ohio State have already demonstrated the first quantum key distribution (QKD) link on campus using in-ground optical fiber, and are actively developing Ohio’s first intercity quantum network connecting Columbus and Dayton.

The collaborative aims to not only accelerate scientific breakthroughs but also cultivate the next generation of quantum leaders through initiatives like the Quantum Graduate Interdisciplinary Program (QuGIP), one of the first stand-alone MS/PhD programs in Quantum Information Science and Engineering in the United States. Reano, co-director of CQISE and professor of electrical and computer engineering, noted that QuGIP is designed to prepare students for leadership roles in the field. The MQC now comprises Purdue University, University of Michigan, Michigan State University, Indiana University, Washington University in St. Louis, the University of Illinois Chicago, Northwestern University, and Ohio State University.

For Ohio State, joining the Midwest Quantum Collaboratory represents an important opportunity to amplify the impact of our extraordinary quantum research through strategic regional partnerships.

John M. Horack, vice president for research at Ohio State
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Ivy Delaney

Ivy Delaney has been working with neural networks and machine learning since the mid-nineties, back when a couple of hidden layers and a long afternoon of training counted as ambitious. She has watched the field go from academic curiosity to the thing quietly running underneath everything, and she brings that long view to quantum computing. For Quantum Zeitgeist she covers the ground where the two fields meet. That means quantum machine learning and the variational algorithms it leans on, and it also means the less glamorous but more interesting story of classical machine learning already doing real work inside quantum machines, decoding error-correcting codes, calibrating noisy hardware and learning the error models that simulators depend on. She writes about the hardware those algorithms have to run on too, and about the post-quantum cryptography scramble that the same hardware has set off. Her stories typically start with the paper, whether that is peer-reviewed work, conference proceedings or an arXiv preprint, with the source linked so you can hold a claim up against the research it came from. She is unimpressed by benchmarks that will not say what they beat, and by demonstrations that only work in the press release.

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