Alternative Computing

There is a growing need for new, alternative computing technologies that are more energy-efficient, more compact, and/or more compatible with certain environments than traditional CMOS technologies. Such technologies include molecular, biological, neuromorphic, and quantum computing technologies. While substantial progress has been made designing such technologies, the theories for how to compute remain incomplete. We collaborate with experimental groups to design new ways of computing and develop their theoretical underpinnings.

Molecular Computing

As part of a much larger collaborative effort, our group has pioneered new ways of storing information and computing with small molecules. We have devised a means of encoding information in the presence or absence of small molecules in mixtures, which enables some of the highest density storage yet conceived. Recently, this work has been spun out as part of the venture, AtomICs. We have also developed new means of computing based on small molecule reactions, including autocatalytic and acid-base reactions. Our computing approaches use the natural reactivity of molecules to perform practical computations.

Funding: DARPA and NSF

Quantum Computing

Our group has developed both novel algorithms for quantum computers and used simulation to better understand the noise generated by many quantum computing architectures. We are interested in developing algorithms for these machines that extend their current capabilities and solve problems beyond the Schrodinger Equation.

Funding: Brown Seed Award

Correlated Catalysis

In collaboration with engineers at Brown and biologists at Boston University, we have demonstrated how cells that leverage oscillations to modify their growth and feeding can be tuned to compute. We have shown how such cells can solve XY and Ising class problems with very high levels of accuracy, suggesting that they may leverage previously unrecognized forms of computation.

Funding: NSF SemiSynthBio Program