PSIRCH Places Amazon’s Steve Flammia as Quantum Center Director at Virginia Tech in Partnership With Northrop Grumman

Insider Brief

• Steven (Steve) T. Flammia has been selected to lead Virginia Tech’s Center for Quantum Architecture and Software Development.
• He joins Virginia Tech’s Innovation Campus by the National Landing region of Alexandria, VA as the new quantum center’s Director, as well as Endowed Chair Professor in the computer science department
• Flammia former served as Amazon Web Services (AWS) Principal Research Scientist at the AWS Center for Quantum Computing at Caltech, in Pasadena, CA.

Steven (Steve) T. Flammia has been selected to lead Virginia Tech’s Center for Quantum Architecture and Software Development, in partnership with Northrop Grumman. This follows a global executive search for the new center’s top position, which was managed by quantum technology executive search firm, PSIRCH.

Steve joins Virginia Tech’s Innovation Campus by the National Landing region of Alexandria, VA as the new quantum center’s Director, as well as Endowed Chair Professor in the computer science department, from Amazon Web Services (AWS), where he served as its Principal Research Scientist at the AWS Center for Quantum Computing at Caltech, in Pasadena, CA.

Prior to his post at AWS, Dr. Flammia was a professor at the University of Sydney, in New South Wales, Australia, a Principal Research Scientist at the University of Washington, in Seattle, and held Postdoctoral Researcher positions at both the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, CA, and the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Waterloo, Canada.

“I’m thrilled to be joining the faculty at Virginia Tech’s Innovation Campus as the Director of its new quantum center,” commented Flammia. “I’m greatly looking forward to building the team there, and to working across the interdisciplinary ecosystem, as well as with Northrop Grumman. It’s an exciting time to be in the field.”

With degrees in physics and mathematics from the University of New Mexico and Penn State University, Flammia is an acclaimed quantum information theorist and accomplished quantum computer scientist, with expertise in quantum algorithms and quantum error correction, as well as associated areas of focus. In his capacity as Director of the quantum center, he will undertake the challenges of building the center’s workforce and strategic partnerships, as well as setting the research direction for the center, with full involvement in proposed research and development projects.