Can quantum information prove where you are?
Investigate how separated adversaries use entanglement and nonlocal computation to challenge location-based authentication.
Qiskit / Quantum circuits
Explore project S3Research Experiences for Undergraduates · Summer 2027
Secure and reliable
quantum
information networks.
May 24–July 30, 2027 · 10 weeks at Illinois
A summer to ask new questions at the intersection of quantum information, security, and computation.
10 students. Three research thrusts. One connected community.
- When
- May 24–July 30, 2027
- The cohort
- 10 undergraduate researchers
- Where
- Illinois Urbana-Champaign
- Your starting point
- Curiosity. No quantum course required.
Three thrusts. Real research questions.
The next network
starts with your ideas.
Quantum information is fragile. Networks can be noisy. Trust is never automatic. Work with faculty to turn these challenges into a focused, original research project.
THRUST 01
Communicate securely.
Explore finite-key cryptography, authentication, and the limits of location-based security.
Secure communications THRUST 02Protect fragile information.
Find out how codes and decoders perform when quantum noise is biased, correlated, or imperfectly modeled.
Quantum coding THRUST 03Coordinate across a network.
Investigate how local quantum operations can produce shared computations and common states.
Distributed consensusA closer look
Small systems.
Open questions.
Which small quantum code wins under biased noise?
Enumerate error patterns to see when different small codes exchange their performance advantage.
Exact enumeration / Stabilizer codes
Explore project C1Can local interactions create global agreement?
Study quantum gossip and interaction rules that bring local qubit states toward a common state.
Quantum gossip / Graph models
Explore project Q2You belong in the conversation
You don’t need to arrive
as a quantum expert.
Bring a foundation in programming, mathematics, physics, or engineering. We’ll build the shared language together.
Discover the summer experience01
Start with support
Pre-arrival bridge modules and a quantum bootcamp help you move from your background into a research question.
02
Find your research voice
Faculty and near-peer mentoring connect you to weekly feedback, cross-thrust conversations, and a community of researchers.
03
Leave with work you can share
Develop a poster, a talk, a short technical paper, and reproducible code or a derivation notebook.
A connected research environment
Illinois ECEIQUISTIBM QuantumChicago Quantum
Exchange
Exchange
Campus resources and planned partner activities connect research to the wider quantum community. Explore the partners
Your next research question starts here
Bring your curiosity.
Build something that matters.
No prior quantum coursework required. A summer of research, mentorship, and discovery at Illinois.