The David Johnston Award for Scientific Outreach recognizes students dedicated to promoting public awareness of quantum research and science in the community. IQC is proud to announce this year's recipients, PhD students Kristine Boone and Ramy Tannous.
Kristine Boone studies randomized benchmarking, a series of protocols designed to ensure that quantum operations are actually quantum. She has acted as a representative for IQC at numerous government, industry and public events, including on panels at the Canadian Science Policy Conference and the UK Innovation Summit.
"In part, I do outreach because I think what IQC is doing is truly amazing, and it's something that all of Canada should be proud of," said Boone. “We have some of the greatest minds on Earth in one location, and not enough people know about what we do here."
Kristine has also acted as an ambassador for quantum information science and women in STEM, has worked to build bridges between academia and industry and has taught at the Quantum Cryptography School for Young Students (QCSYS).
"It's really exciting," said Boone about the award. "I've always had a passion for scientific outreach, so it's great to be recognized for that."
Ramy Tannous has been a volunteer with the outreach program since he joined IQC in 2016. As a PhD student, he studies the implementation of novel protocols for free space quantum communication as part of the QEYSSat project with faculty member Thomas Jennewein. He has assisted with both teaching and lab roles in the QCSYS summer school, as well as helping with labs in the Undergraduate School on Experimental Quantum Information Processing (USEQIP). Outside of IQC, Tannous has also been involved with the IQC Graduate Student Association, judged science fairs and helped with the Physics Department’s outreach activities.
"A large part of the job of a scientist is also to tell the public what you're doing and inspire the next generation," said Tannous. "I think it's great that IQC has an outreach award because it recognizes the time and effort we put into things beyond research."