RPI IBM Quantum System One Installation: A bicentennial Celebration
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute is officially into its 200th year anniversary. A history of 200 years: from being the first technological university in the United States of America to achieving a feat of many other firsts. The university with the fastest supercomputer of any private university and April 5th, 2024 was no different — it was a day when RPI became the first university in the world to house IBM Quantum System One, another jewel in the world of computing — a star in the STEM world!
Before delving into the festivities, I would love to express my wonder. I am not originally from the US, and studying at an university that is the first STEM focused across the US brings me profound delight. Its red bricks, the mix of the old and the new, the open Quad, the bridges that joins different buildings that housed the world leaders throughout its 200 year old history, and is continuing to shape the future by educating the brightest minds of this century. RPI, I touch your bricks, and I look high above to see how tall you stand, proud of all the accomplishments that people housed in you have achieved. I walk across from one end to the other and I wonder how many feet stompings have you felt on your grounds — the vibrations felt throughout the world with their innovations. It makes me infinitely proud about the privilege and opportunity that I endow by being here, but I also feel the weights of responsibilities, that I should, to shape the world for the better and to change it in ways that is benefitial for the humanity.
I have always been delved in art — an irony for people who see fields of science and art as segregated. But look at you RPI, your beautiful architecture reflected in buildings, housing the scientists of tomorrow. Your beautiful green quad brings together the chemists, the physicists, the computer scientists, engineers of all fields and what not — the human army that makes day to day life at RPI easy. isn’t it the perfect amalgamation of the arts and sciences?
Now, the festivities: It was my first day in the EMPAC. For those who do not EMPAC, it is one of the beautiful examples of the extraordinary marvel of art and science fusing together and making it picturesque.
Being in EMPAC and going to the theatre for the first time where the session was planned with friends hyped up my excitement. I wasn’t able to attend all of the events spread out across three days from April 3 till April 5. I attended a keynote in the evening on April 4 and the ribboncutting along with the tour of IBM Quantum System One on the April 5.
The morning of April 5 when the ribboncutting was scheduled, we witnessed the glorious history of computing at RPI, realizing how much we have progressed and at exponential speed. The resources at present are profound and not yet sufficient to find every answers to humanity’s probing questions. But thats what keeps us going. After the ribboncutting ceremony finished, and the guests came up on the stage, we got the news of earthquake, its epicenter in New Jersey. It was a day so momentous. Listening to everyone’s hope for the future and the innovation that will come out of the new computing machinery was encouraging and it is worth delving into and making the most out of it.
In the afternoon, we were waiting for the tour of the Quantum computer. I want to note there about my interactions with one of the security persons. My heart melted at the kindness and the warmth they shared in their interaction. It is in these moments I feel that kindness, compassion and love among humanity is so powerful. And communication likes these really could make any hard day easier. Finally, we went on our tour with one of the Quantum Computing club people, the chapel where the Quantum Computer is housed — the concentric old and new so alive. It was another reminder to hold onto our past, to treasure it, but also to keep the innovation going.
And this is how RPI added another glorious chapter in its bicentennial year. We cannot wait to unleash the magic unto the world and breathe life into our motto over and over again — “Why not Change the World?”
