By Elizabeth Kleisath
Communications Officer, Advancement
International Year of Quantum - Science Alumni Profile
First envisioned 100 years ago, quantum mechanics has seen significant progress in the years since. UNESCO has named 2025 the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology and to celebrate, the University of Waterloo’s Faculty of Science will be highlighting alumni from the quantum field throughout the next year.
As a world-leading expert in quantum and artificial intelligence, University of Waterloo Science alum Dr. Roger Melko, BSc ’00 (Physics), MSc ’01 (Physics), consistently draws inspiration from recent technological revolutions and applies them to his innovative work in quantum science. Now, as a professor in Waterloo’s Department of Physics and Astronomy, his research uncovers new, unique connections between physics and machine learning.
The world’s first open-source, full stack quantum computer
Melko’s latest innovation is the world’s first open-source, full stack quantum computer as co-founder of Open Quantum Design, alongside Science alum Greg Dick, BSc ’93 (Physics), and Waterloo physics professors Dr. Rajibul Islam and Dr. Crystal Senko.
Melko first found inspiration to theoretically study Islam and Senko’s experiments when they introduced him to the many challenging problems involved with controlling their trapped ion quantum computer. He began to investigate artificial intelligence (AI) as a solution to the many complex characterization and control problems faced by the ion traps and similar quantum hardware.
“By using AI models, we can lower the cost of prediction to design the next generation of quantum computers,” says Melko. “We hope to kickstart the scaling revolution in quantum computing.”
The team has released their quantum computer under an open-source licence to accelerate the development of standards for quantum computing, democratize the emerging technology, create an open-source pipeline, and transform the future of quantum research.
Open Quantum Design co-founders, Dr. Crystal Senko, Dr. Rajibul Islam, Dr. Roger Melko and Greg Dick
Breakthroughs in technology inspire Melko’s quantum focus
Melko realized early in his research career that quantum effects impacted condensed matter algorithms, and that these fields were more intertwined than initially understood. “Both quantum information and condensed matter physics deal with essentially the same theoretically challenging problem, the many-body problem,” says Melko. “Interacting electrons in condensed matter and interacting qubits in quantum information are equally challenging to understand and difficult for conventional computers to simulate.”
After drawing these parallels, Melko became interested in algorithms and their application into new innovations. Around 2014, AI image recognition had advanced to the point that a picture could be analyzed pixel by pixel and correctly identify the subject—a breakthrough which helped earn Dr. Geoffrey Hinton the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2024. While many people simply saw forward to applications like reCAPTCA or new cat videos, Melko identified that AI had finally solved a scaling problem that could be relevant to tackle the quantum many body problem. By 2015, Melko’s research was using AI neural networks to classify the distribution of quantum states.
Now with the rise of LLMs, Melko is seeing the second big advance in scaling capabilities for machine learning. “Quantum computing won’t automatically happen. It’s easy to trap millions of qubits, but hard to control them all together. We need a breakthrough to solve this, and by looking at LLMs, we can see that this is possible. My research asks ‘Can we leverage these neural networks to help scale up quantum computers?”
Thinking differently at Waterloo
As a student at Waterloo, Melko cultivated his mindset of thinking differently, and drawing connections between different technologies, thanks in part to many of his physics professors at the time, including Dr. Robert Mann, Dr. Raj Pathria, and Dr. Michel Gingras. Bringing his career full circle, Melko is now attracting talented students to Waterloo, and embracing the advances that new AI technology is bringing.
From the dot-com bubble to today’s rise in AI and LLMs, Melko has been inspired to draw parallels between the technological advances he sees in society and the technical problems his research addresses. “I’ve never switched my focus away from my main research goal of overcoming the limits of physics’ quantum many-body problem. Condensed matter theory is at the forefront of traversing the gap between quantum algorithms and the current limitations of quantum hardware.”
Bringing attention to quantum science
“I’m looking forward to the International Year of Quantum bringing attention to the field of quantum information. Quantum computers are going to be a new instrument of scientific discovery, like a telescope, as we look into the next frontier of science. It’s a safe bet that we will discover new and complex phenomena, and I’m excited about the unprecedented discoveries quantum technologies will lead to.”
For those inspired by the discovery and exploration currently being pursued in the Faculty of Science and the impacts our alumni are making on quantum science, we invite you to connect with the Director of Science Advancement to learn how your generosity can make a meaningful impact. Philanthropic support is transformative in advancing scientific research and enabling groundbreaking discoveries that can bridge the gap between today’s technologies and tomorrow’s reality.