Quantum Technical Community Awards

IEEE Quantum Technical Community Early Career Award

General

The IEEE Quantum Technical Community (QTC) Early Career Award is presented annually to a scientist or engineer in the early stages of their post-PhD career who has made contributions above and beyond those considered normal for a person at such an early stage. Nomination packages should specifically address contributions in the field of quantum computing and engineering.

Detailed Criteria for the Award

Ordinarily, a recipient of this award will be either a scientist or engineer who completed their PhD no more than 10 years before the time of nomination. However, extenuating circumstances (e.g., a documented interruption in employment, including but not limited to, family-related or medical leaves, family leaves, or military service) may qualify a nominee who received their PhD earlier to be considered “early in their career.” In such circumstances, the nominator must clearly document the extenuating circumstances, providing written proof as part of the nomination.

The Committee expects a nominee for the QTC Early Career Award to exceed expectations in at least two of the Criteria 2.1 to 2.3. For a nominee to be considered primarily under criterion 2.4, an exceptionally strong case would be needed.

Criteria:

2.1. The nominee has demonstrated leadership in the quantum computing and engineering community.
2.2. The nominee has produced and disseminated important research results with impacts on quantum computing concepts and practice.
2.3. The academic nominee has made significant educational contributions (e.g., design of new courses, curricula, and syllabi, or exceptional mentoring). The industry or government nominee has successfully managed multiple major projects from initiation, product development, to delivery and beyond.
2.4. The nominee has made other outstanding contributions that, in the opinion of the QTC Early Career Award Committee, warrant the Award.

Eligibility

A nominee must be an IEEE Computer Society Quantum Technical Community member at the time of nomination.

Solicitation

To ensure a broad and competitive pool of nominees, the IEEE QTC Early Career Award Committee may encourage the submission of nominations for the award. Potential nominees may be identified and recommended informally for consideration, including individuals from academia, industry, and government sectors.

Nomination packages must be submitted by a qualified nominator who is not a member of the IEEE QTC Early Career Award Committee. Committee members are not permitted to serve as nominators or participate in the preparation of nomination materials. While potential candidates may assist in assembling required documentation, the primary responsibility for the nomination rests with the nominator.

Self-nominations will not be considered. Nominees who have previously received the award are not eligible. The Committee reserves the right to solicit nominations where appropriate and may decide not to make an award in a given year.

Nomination package

• Nominator: name, address, phone number, and email address of the person making the nomination.
• Nominee: name, address, phone number, and email address of the individual (not self-nominated) or institution for whom an award is recommended.
• Short statement (300-500 words): explaining why the nominee deserves the recommended award.
• Letter from the nominee: saying “I accept this nomination” and “my IEEE membership number is XXX”
• Supporting statements: from up to two people in addition to the nominator.
• Curriculum vitae (CV): detailed biographical summary of the nominee, or a document highlighting the story and major achievements of the nominee, and what their impact on quantum computing and engineering.

It is at the discretion of the QTC Early Career Award Committee member to evaluate any additional information included in the package.

Submission of Nomination Package

Nominations for 2026 are closed. Check back here for instructions for submitting nominations in 2027.

The nomination package should be uploaded as a single PDF file attachment, as a track submission. The “author” of the submission should be the nominee, and the name of the submission should be “[YEAR]  QTC EARLY CAREER AWARD Submission for [NOMINEE]”.  There are additional fields on the submission form for the nominator.

General inquiries about the IEEE QTC Early Career Award Committee may be directed to the 2025 IEEE QTC Early Career Awards Selection Committee listed below.

Awards Ceremony

The QTC Early Career Award is presented annually during the IEEE QCE Awards Ceremony at IEEE Quantum Week. The IEEE QTC Chair, IEEE QCE General Chair, and the Chair of the QTC Early Career Award Selection Committee will present the award to the recipient(s) at the QCE Award Ceremony. The award announcement and recipient(s) will be prominently featured immediately following the selection on the IEEE QTC and QCE websites and shared widely through official social media channels.

2026 QTC Early Career Award Selection Committee

• Greg Byrd (Chair), NC State University
• Angela Sara Cacciapuoti, University of Naples Federico II
• Bert de Jong, Lawrence Berkeley National Lab
• Steve Girvin, Yale University
• Laura Schulz, Argonne National Laboratory (ANL)
• Travis Humble, Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL)

You may view and download the .pdf file with all the necessary information for the QTC Early Career Award here.

2025 IEEE QTC Distinguished Early Career Award Winners

Ali Javadi-Abhari, IBM Quantum

Yufei Ding, University of California, San Diego

Yongshan Ding, Yale University

Citation: “For outstanding contributions in quantum computing and engineering.”