Past Winner
2022 NSERC Arthur B. McDonald Fellowships

As an established leader in her field, Dr. Stephanie Simmons holds the key to unleashing the power of a quantum internet. Simmons’s career has always had a single overarching goal: building and developing the world’s first large-scale universal quantum processor. Quantum computers will offer revolutionary capabilities that are otherwise impossible to achieve: quantum computers will perform certain key tasks exponentially faster than the world’s top supercomputers.

Simmons wants to develop the hardware capable of both processing and transmitting quantum data, making the quantum internet, and large-scale quantum computing, a reality. Her work uniquely concerns the development of cutting-edge silicon photonics and their potential as a platform for ideal quantum processing/transmitting interfaces for these future quantum networks. Simmons’s lab was the first to search for high-performance silicon-based interfaces for quantum technologies. Her team has since pioneered an entirely novel platform—silicon telecom colour centres—that she believes will form the centrepiece of this future global quantum technology.

Both the provincial and federal governments have benefitted from Simmons’s expertise on several occasions. She has been a key voice in the discussions around Canada’s quantum technology strategy and other international consultative roundtables. Serving on multiple boards and committees, Simmons is directly impacting government policy and investments in her field.

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