We are pleased to recognize the winners and finalists of Microsoft’s latest round of the Quantum Pioneers Program. Below are the winners of the Hardware Track and the winners and finalists of the Software Track from the June 2026 competition.
Quantum
Hardware Track winners
| Winner | Institution(s) | Submission Title |
|---|---|---|
| Andrea Young & Michel Devoret | University of California, Santa Barbara | Advanced Readout Techniques for High Magnetic Field Topological Qubits |
| Constantin Schrade & Valla Fatemi | Louisiana State University; Cornell University | Evaluation of Fast, High-SNR Parity Measurements via Inductive and Dot-Free Methods |
| Michael Wimmer & Anton Akhmerov | Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) | Multi-Objective Optimization of Measurement-Based Quantum Computing in Quantum Dot Kitaev Chains (MOOKit) |
| Shyam Shankar | University of Texas at Austin | DC-Powered Super-Semi Amplifier for Scalable Qubit Readout |
| Ali Yazdani & Michael P. Zaletel | Princeton University; University of California, Berkeley | Building a Prototype Topological Qubit |
Software Track winners
Five proposals were selected as winners of the Software Track.
| Winner | Institution(s) | Submission Title |
|---|---|---|
| Edward F. Valeev | Virginia Tech | Realistic Active-Space Hamiltonians for Fault-Tolerant Quantum Computers |
| Ruben Verresen & Henry Yuen | University of Chicago; Columbia University | Adaptive Computation on Measurement-Based Topological Hardware |
| Aleksander Kubica & Alex Retzker | Yale University; The Hebrew University of Jerusalem | Adapting Recent QEC Constructions to Quantum Hardware |
| Isaac L. Chuang | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | Quantum Redundant Residue Arithmetic Coding: Non-CSS Qudit Codes that Make Arithmetic Clifford |
| Jong Yeon Lee | University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign | From Logical Spectroscopy to Hardware-Aware qLDPC Compilation |
Software Track finalists
We also congratulate the six finalists of the Software Track.
| Winner | Institution(s) | Submission Title |
|---|---|---|
| Vojtech Vlcek & Alexander Kemper | University of California, Santa Barbara; North Carolina State University | Adaptive Dynamical Downfolding for Correlated Materials |
| Gushu Li | University of Pennsylvania | Architectural Support for Fault-Tolerant Measurement-Based Topological Quantum Computing |
| Junyu Liu | University of Pittsburgh | End-to-End Quantum Software for Majorana-Native Stabilizer Codes |
| Ning Bao & Eugene Tang | Northeastern University | Locality-Aware Quantum Error Correction for Fault-Tolerant Architectures |
| Yu Tong | Duke University | Open-System Quantum Simulation with Near-Optimal Spacetime Scaling |
| Sabre Kais | North Carolina State University | Quantum Simulation of Chiral Reaction Dynamics for Drug Discovery |
Advancing quantum through collaboration
Progress in quantum computing depends on advances that work together. New physical devices need reliable measurement and control; error-correcting codes need practical implementations; and algorithms need to make effective use of the resources available. Research collaborations bring complementary expertise to these connected challenges.
We look forward to working with this new cohort of researchers to test ideas, share insights, and advance useful, fault-tolerant quantum computing. Congratulations to all of the winners and finalists, and thank you to everyone who submitted a proposal. We look forward to submissions in future rounds of the Quantum Pioneers Program.