FAU leaps ahead as state’s first university to host an onsite quantum computer

Florida Atlantic University

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From left, Alan Baratz, Ph.D., CEO of D-Wave; FAU President Adam Hasner; and Florida Secretary of Commerce, J. Alex Kelly.

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Credit: D-Wave

Florida Atlantic University will be the first university in Florida to publicly host a large, dedicated quantum computer on site. Today, FAU signed an agreement with D-Wave Quantum Inc. (NYSE: QBTS), to acquire and install an Advantage2 annealing quantum computer on the university’s Boca Raton campus, aiming to accelerate and solidify the state of Florida’s position as a leader in quantum computing.

The Advantage2 system deployment, expected later this year, will serve as the foundation of a new partnership with D-Wave, the only dual-platform quantum computing company, providing annealing and gate-model systems, software and services. Together, FAU and D-Wave aim to advance quantum computing education, research and applied innovation in Florida.

“This milestone marks a transformative moment for Florida Atlantic University and for the state of Florida,” said Piero Bussani, chair, FAU Board of Trustees. “By hosting one of the most advanced quantum computers on a university campus, FAU is not only accelerating research but also preparing our students to lead in a rapidly evolving technological landscape. This partnership with D-Wave positions our university – and our region – at the forefront of quantum innovation, bridging academia, industry and real-world solutions in ways that were unimaginable just a few years ago.”

Earlier today, D-Wave announced that it will establish its new corporate headquarters at the Boca Raton Innovation Center. The headquarters will serve as a key development hub in the United States for D-Wave, designed to further quantum computing technology advancement.

“This is an exciting ‘quantum’ leap for Florida Atlantic University as we strengthen our position as a hub of innovation in Florida and beyond,” said FAU President Adam Hasner. “As an R1 research university strategically located in South Florida, we are positioned to leverage these resources to tackle challenges in logistics, finance, transportation, materials discovery, and much more. This partnership will define how we approach science and innovation, and we are proud to take our place as Florida’s Quantum Computing University. This is a big differentiator for Florida Atlantic. We are planting the FAU flag in the proverbial sand of Florida’s Quantum Beach. Integrating the D-Wave system into our research and teaching elevates FAU into an elite group of universities that will drive the next wave of quantum science.”   

The collaboration between FAU and D-Wave will include academic research, training, joint research and workforce development initiatives that will leverage D-Wave’s award-winning Advantage2 system to be housed on FAU’s campus.

“Congratulations to Florida Atlantic on this groundbreaking partnership with D-Wave, which will strengthen our state and enhance meaningful educational opportunities for students,” said Alan Levine, chair of the Florida State University System’s Board of Governors. “This achievement underscores the forward-thinking leadership focused on the future that President Hasner brings to Florida Atlantic. His expertise in cultivating strategic industry partnerships is fundamental to Florida Atlantic’s and our state’s continued growth and competitiveness.”

FAU and D-Wave will also host joint ideation workshops and hackathons to explore real-world quantum use cases in areas such as public works, logistics, supply chains, transportation and emergency management.

“Spearheaded by our Charles E. Schmidt College of Science and College of Engineering and Computer Science, our quantum computing system will serve as a powerful tool for tackling complex scientific and engineering challenges,” said Gregg Fields, Ph.D., FAU vice president for research. “Direct access to the hardware enables faster experimentation and deeper collaboration among researchers, while giving students and engineers hands-on experience with next-generation technology and helping to build a highly skilled workforce.”

The Advantage2 system is a revolutionary quantum computer developed by D‑Wave that uses quantum annealing to tackle complex problems beyond the reach of traditional computers. With 4,400+ qubits, it is designed to optimize logistics, improve resource scheduling, accelerate materials discovery, and enhance artificial intelligence applications.

“This marks a defining moment for FAU and D-Wave,” said Alan Baratz, Ph.D., CEO of D-Wave. “Deploying a D-Wave quantum computer at FAU will establish the university as a preeminent center for quantum computing education and research. It signals that the university is not just preparing for the quantum era — it is helping to shape it. For D-Wave, it signifies an important collaboration with a leading academic institution to further quantum computing experimentation and innovation.”  

Unlike supercomputers, which excel at tasks like weather forecasting, scientific research and AI, quantum computers operate on fundamentally different principles, offering an entirely new paradigm in computing. By harnessing the principles of quantum physics, quantum computers are designed to tackle more computationally complex problems – such as modeling molecules for drug discovery, optimizing complex systems like supply chains or energy grids, and developing new materials – often considered impractical or impossible for classical computers to solve.

“This investment positions Florida and Florida Atlantic University at the forefront of the next generation of computing,” said Florida Secretary of Commerce J. Alex Kelly. “By bringing a quantum computer to FAU, we’re creating new opportunities for research, workforce development, and partnerships that will benefit our economy, national defense, data security, critical life sciences R&D, and transportation and logistics systems – keeping our state competitive for years to come.”

An onsite system also attracts private industry, startups and investment by signaling a strong commitment to emerging technologies and innovation. In addition, local control over advanced computing infrastructure supports secure research and data use, strengthens FAU’s ability to compete for federal funding, and positions the university as a leader in shaping the future of advanced computing rather than relying on resources located elsewhere.

A D-Wave Quantum Applications Academy at FAU also will be established to provide paid internships and experiential learning opportunities for FAU students. In support of this agreement, the state of Florida and the city of Boca Raton have provided incentives for job growth and training to expand the talent pool needed to support growing U.S. in-production quantum systems and increased government business. 

- FAU -

An image of D-Wave's Advantage2™ annealing quantum computer. FAU has signed an agreement to purchase and install an Advantage2 annealing quantum computer at its Boca Raton campus. 

D-Wave’s Advantage2TM annealing quantum computer is a powerful and energy-efficient system capable of solving computationally complex problems in business and science. D-Wave’s sixth-generation annealing quantum computer, the Advantage2 system is production-ready and built to address real-world use cases in areas such as optimization, materials simulation, and artificial intelligence.

A close-up look at a D-Wave Advantage2TM annealing quantum processing unit (QPU). 

Credit

D-Wave

THE NEW GREEN REVOLUTION

Grant to expand self-cloning crop technology for Indian farmers

Plant biologist receives grant to produce higher-yielding crops for sustainable agriculture

University of California - Davis

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Venkatesan Sundaresan, a Distinguished Professor of plant biology and plant sciences at the University of California, Davis, has been awarded a Gates Foundation grant to develop self-cloning crops for Indian farmers. The five-year, $4.9 million project is a collaboration with researchers Myeong-Je Cho at UC Berkeley’s Innovative Genomics Institute (IGI), Viswanathan Chinnusamy at the ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute (ICAR-IARI), New Delhi and Ravi Maruthachalam at the Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research (IISER-Thiruvananthapuram). 

The project aims to sustainably improve agricultural productivity by producing high-yielding crops that clone themselves, allowing farmers to save their superior seeds from one season to the next. It’s based on a technology called “synthetic apomixis,” which Sundaresan’s lab previously developed in rice. 

With the new funding, the team will expand the technology into other staple crops, starting with pearl millet and Indian mustard, two crops that are regionally important in India but do not usually receive international research attention.

“It’s wonderful that the Gates Foundation has taken an interest in this technology,” said Sundaresan. “Their funding makes it possible for us to apply our method to specific crops in contexts where it can make a difference.”

Giving neglected crops the attention they deserve

Pearl millet and Indian mustard (also known as brown mustard) are widely cultivated in India, but are not traded much internationally. That means they receive less attention from funding agencies, seed developers and agricultural companies.

“Big seed companies generally want to work on huge worldwide crops like corn, soybeans and tomatoes,” said Sundaresan. “The technology we develop with this grant will directly benefit smallholder farmers in developing countries.”

Like many other crops, pearl millet and Indian mustard produce higher yields through hybrid breeding — when two genetically different varieties are crossbred. However, hybrid seeds are expensive to produce and must be purchased each year, because when hybrid plants self-fertilize, their optimal genetic combination gets scrambled, resulting in offspring with sub-par yields. 

To make hybrid crops’ high-yielding capacity stable from generation to generation, Sundaresan’s lab developed synthetic apomixis, which allows plants to clone themselves. Self-cloning hybrid varieties of pearl millet and Indian mustard will be more accessible to smallholder farmers.

Branching from grains to vegetable crops 

Sundaresan’s team originally developed synthetic apomixis in rice and has shown that the same approach can work in maize. An independent research team recently used their methods to produce self-cloning sorghum.

Extending synthetic apomixis to Indian mustard may present an additional hurdle, because it belongs to a very different branch of the plant evolutionary tree. Whereas rice, sorghum and pearl millet are all grass-like monocots, Indian mustard is a dicot in the same genus as cabbage, kale and broccoli. Because embryonic development is different in dicots, the researchers may need to significantly modify parts of their method in order to obtain self-cloning mustard. If they succeed, it will open up the possibility of using synthetic apomixis in a broad range of vegetable crops.

“It may be more complicated to move this technology into dicots, because the embryo initiation process is a little different, but I'm hoping that in five years, we'll have the technology working in Indian mustard,” said Sundaresan. “Our discoveries will also yield valuable information for other dicot crops.”

A tweak to remove transgenics 

In addition to extending synthetic apomixis to new crop species, the project aims to tweak the technology so that it no longer involves transgenics — the insertion of foreign DNA from one species into another. Instead, the researchers want to develop a version of synthetic apomixis that relies exclusively on gene editing, which involves mutating or editing an organism’s existing genes using methods such as CRISPR/Cas9.

Doing so will make synthetic apomixis more widely accessible, because gene-edited crops are usually subject to less stringent regulations than transgenic crops. India recently passed laws to deregulate gene-edited crops, which means that, if successful, any self-cloning varieties produced through this project will be treated in the same way as conventionally bred varieties.

“The time is right to develop these crops in India,” said Sundaresan. “If the technology is a success there, I think it will quickly become adopted by other countries around the developing world. I'm hoping that we have, so to speak, the seeds of a new agricultural revolution in place.”

 

Atlantic nurse sharks show faster growth patterns in Biscayne Bay than nearby Bimini, Bahamas

University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science

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A juvenile nurse shark is gently restrained for measurements and sampling.

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Credit: Shark Research and Conservation Program, University of Miami Rosenstiel School.

A new study based on long-term monitoring data demonstrates significant differences in growth between nurse sharks off the coast of Miami and those living just across the Gulf Stream.

A new study from the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science shows that juvenile Atlantic nurse sharks (Ginglymostoma cirratum) grow more rapidly as juveniles and reach smaller maximum sizes than nurse sharks in Bimini, Bahamas—locations so close that these populations have historically been assumed to be the same.

Evidence from long-term fisheries-independent monitoring by the Shark Research and Conservation Program at the Rosenstiel School shows Biscayne Bay is an important nursery habitat for numerous species of shark. 

“Despite human degradation of Biscayne Bay, our data suggests it remains critical habitat for many species of juvenile shark, providing essential resources and protection from predation early in life,” said John Hlavin, Ph.D. student in the Abess Center for Ecosystem Science and Policy and lead author on the study. 

“Using data from nurse sharks captured more than once between 2017 and 2025, we were able to assess their growth rates and estimate the size of habitats they rely on based on the distance between initial and final capture,” said Emily Yeager, co-author of the study and a doctoral candidate in the Department of Environmental Science and Policy at the Rosenstiel School. “We found significant differences that show more rapid growth at smaller sizes in Biscayne Bay compared to the Bahamas.”

The study found that juvenile nurse sharks in Biscayne Bay likely rely on small home ranges while young, which increase in size as they grow, and that their growth rates and maximum size are distinct from nearby nurse sharks in the Bahamas. 

“These differences are likely to be driven by variances in access to resources, suggesting that resource availability may be more limited in Bimini, or that juveniles in Bimini may face greater competition from abundant juvenile lemon sharks that share those habitats,” said Catherine Macdonald, Ph.D., an associate professor in the Department of Environmental Science and Policy, and the director of the Shark Research and Conservation Program.  “These groups may show these significant differences as a result of greater resource availability and/or historic fishing pressure, which has been shown to select for faster growth and smaller maximum sizes.” 

Because South Florida includes extensive recreational fisheries and a historic fishery targeting nurse sharks for their skin and liver oil, there may be genetic differences in nurse shark populations in Florida that explain the observed differences.

The authors emphasize the importance of long-term monitoring that can provide these kinds of data sets. 

“Conducting studies of life-history traits across different habitats within a region can help us better understand how local variation might affect traits that are essential for science-based fisheries management,” added Hlavin. This is especially important for species like nurse sharks that are threatened by poorly managed or unmanaged fisheries in many parts of their range.”

The research was supported by the University of Miami’s Abess Center Fellowship, Florida Sea Grant–Guy Harvey Foundation,  and the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship 

The study, titled “Is the seagrass greener on the other side? Faster growth in Biscayne Bay, Florida’s nurse sharks (Ginglymostoma cirratum) compared to neighboring conspecifics of Bimini, The Bahamas” was published in the journal Environmental Biology of Fishes on December 18, 2025. The authors include John Hlavin*1,2,3,4, Emily Yeager1,2,3,4, Christine Martin1,2,3,4, Christopher Will1,2, Nicholas Perni2, Christian Pankow1,2, and Catherine Macdonald1,2,3

¹ Shark Research and Conservation Program, University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science, ² Field School Scientific Training, ³ Department of Environmental Science and Policy, University of Miami, ⁴ Abess Center for Ecosystem Science and Policy, University of Miami

About the University of Miami and Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric and Earth Science

The University of Miami is a private research university and academic health system with a distinct geographic capacity to connect institutions, individuals, and ideas across the hemisphere and around the world. The University’s vibrant academic community comprises 12 schools and colleges serving more than 19,000 undergraduate and graduate students in more than 180 majors and programs. Located within one of the most dynamic and multicultural cities in the world, the University is building new bridges across geographic, cultural, and intellectual borders, bringing a passion for scholarly excellence, a spirit of innovation, and a commitment to tackling the challenges facing our world. The University of Miami is a member of the prestigious Association of American Universities (AAU).

 Founded in 1943, the Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science is one of the world’s premier research institutions in the continental United States. The School’s basic and applied research programs seek to improve understanding and prediction of Earth’s geological, oceanic, and atmospheric systems by focusing on four key pillars:

*Saving lives through better forecasting of extreme weather and seismic events. 

*Feeding the world by developing sustainable wild fisheries and aquaculture programs. 

*Unlocking ocean secrets through research on climate, weather, energy and medicine. 

*Preserving marine species, including endangered sharks and other fish, as well as protecting and restoring threatened coral reefs. www.earth.miami.edu.

 

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Journal

Environmental Biology of Fishes

DOI

10.1007/s10641-025-01784-7 

Method of Research

Data/statistical analysis

Subject of Research

Animals

Article Title

Is the seagrass greener on the other side? Faster growth in Biscayne Bay, Florida’s nurse sharks (Ginglymostoma cirratum) compared to neighboring conspecifics of Bimini, The Bahamas