The Quantum Pontiff

David Kribbs sends along info about a quantum information position at the University of Guelph:

The Department of Mathematics and Statistics at the University of Guelph invites applications for a full-time tenure track position to start 1 July 2009 or thereafter, at the rank of Assistant Professor. The successful candidate will have the opportunity to become a member of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research program in Quantum Information Processing. Guelph is centrally located in southern Ontario, and the candidate will have the opportunity to participate in activities at the nearby Institute for Quantum Computing and Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Waterloo, and the Fields Institute for Mathematical Sciences in Toronto. Minimum qualifications are a Ph.D. in a relevant discipline, outstanding promise in research, and evidence of strong teaching potential. The successful candidate will be expected to actively participate in our graduate programs emphasizing applied mathematics and statistics. Salary will be commensurate with qualifications and experience. A review of applications will begin April 3, 2009 and continue until the position is filled. Candidates should submit curriculum vitae, research statement and teaching statement and arrange for three letters of reference to be sent directly to
Professor David W. Kribs
QIS Appointments Committee
Department of Mathematics and Statistics
University of Guelph
Guelph, Ontario N1G 2W1.
Fax (519)837-0221.
E-mail: qispos [[[(at)]]] uoguelph.ca
All qualified candidates are encouraged to apply. Canadians and permanent residents will be given priority. The University of Guelph is committed to an employment equity program that includes special measures to achieve diversity among its faculty and staff. We therefore particularly encourage applications from qualified aboriginal Canadians, persons with disabilities, members of visible minorities, and women. The position is subject to final budgetary confirmation.

Quantum computing continues to grow in Canada. Congrats to the IQC at the University of Waterloo who now, truly are the center of the quantum computing universe:

With matching funds from the province of Ontario and RIM founder Mike Lazaridis, University of Waterloo’s Institute for Quantum Computing will receive $150 million to build a research facility and attract talent
Canada will become home to the largest concentration of quantum computing talent in the world, thanks to $150 million in funding from government and the founder of Research In Motion Ltd.
The 2009 federal budget plan released this week reveals a $50 million grant to the Institute for Quantum Computing (IQC) at University of Waterloo in Ontario as an investment in knowledge infrastructure that will help reach the government’s science and technology strategy goals.
“What the federal government is proposing is very visionary,” said IQC director Raymond Laflamme. “It’s really thinking about not only things of today and tomorrow, but the long-term sustainability of the country…I’m very impressed that the Government of Prime Minister Harper has decided to invest in this area.”
With another $50-million contribution from the Government of Ontario plus $50 million in private funding from Research in Motion founder Mike Lazaridis, IQC plans to move ahead in becoming the largest quantum computing institute in the world.

Somedays I like to imagine something like this could happen in the United States, but it’s at that point that I usually realize I’ve been using my whiteboard markers too much in an airtight room.

Founded in 2002, IQC began with five researchers from the UW Faculties of Science and Mathematics, two postdoctoral fellows and five graduate students. IQC’s numbers have grown to 17 faculty members and roughly 100 researchers, 20 post-docs and 65 students today.
IQC plans to double these numbers, said Laflamme. “If you want to compete with the best in the world, you can’t sit still and look at them to pass you. We want to be way ahead so anyone at IQC who’s tempted by other places like MIT or Caltech or Cambridge will say, ‘No, we want to stay here because this is the Mecca for quantum information in the world,'” he said.