This is a hybrid event that will take place virtually via Zoom and in-person.

In-person Location: Austin Central Library, 710 W. César Chávez St.

Computing has become pervasive in our lives, with microprocessors of many types, scales, and characteristics powering everything from home devices to high performance computing systems, from digital sensors to data centers, from cars to cloud computing services. Persistent exponential advances in microprocessors and semiconductor technologies present more performance at less cost and lower power consumption annually. However, there are important applications in healthcare, energy, environment, security, and more for which the annual increases in microprocessors remain woefully insufficient. Researchers, technology companies, government agencies, and others around the world are eager to discover and develop new methods of computing that can offer orders of magnitude greater performance for these societally important applications--and the leading candidate is now quantum computing.

What is quantum computing? Is it 'real', and what makes it promising for these kinds of applications? What are the scientific principles that underpin it? What are the technologies and companies that are most promising now? How will it complement 'classical' computing technologies? When will it offer real impact for your company or organization (and your competitors) and what should you start doing to prepare for quantum computing? Our panel of experts--whurley of Strangeworks, Aparna Prabhakar of IBM, and Ken Durazzo of Dell Technologies--will answer these questions and more, including yours!

​Join us in-person or on Zoom for this great conversation!

Registration and Attendance Instructions

All participants must register for this event via Eventbrite

In-person

Join us at Austin Central Library, 710 W. César Chávez St. Parking information can be found here. Per City of Austin orders, the Austin Public Library requires masks when indoors except when eating, drinking, or speaking/performing onstage.

In-person attendees will also receive all the Zoom information in case for any reason you decide to attend virtually instead. Virtual attendance details can be found below.

Online via Zoom

Once you register via Eventbrite, you will receive the direct Zoom link on the confirmation page, and in your confirmation email. You will also receive the Zoom link in an email from Eventbrite two days before the event and at the event start time.

By registering you will also gain access to the Eventbrite Virtual Event Page, which will be accessible on this page at any time for anyone who is registered. Once registered, you will see an "Access Event" button in the Location area to the right. You must be logged in to access this button.

Featured Speakers

Aparna Prabhakar, Vice President, IBM Quantum Partner Ecosystem

Aparna Prabhakar is responsible for worldwide IBM Quantum Partner ecosystem & alliances. She leads development, enablement and nurturing a network of Quantum partners aimed at advancing Quantum technology.

Previously, Aparna Prabhakar was an executive leader in IBM Corporate Strategy Office responsible for developing strategic outlook and recommendations for IBM C-suite leaders in areas of AI, Quantum computing, Power Systems, Cloud Infrastructure, and hybrid cloud.

She has track record of delivering business impact having previously closed sales commitments greater than $400 Million annually in Asia Pacific; and developed cutting edge semiconductor technology.

Beyond IBM, Aparna Prabhakar is deeply passionate about encouraging and enabling women in technology and actively mentors STEM women worldwide. She is on advisory board with local government NGOs working with at-risk youth to explore careers in STEM.

whurley, CEO & Founder, Strangeworks

whurley is Founder and CEO of Strangeworks, a quantum computing startup that makes the power of quantum computing easily accessible and available to all. He is an Eisenhower Fellow, Innovator in Residence for the Legatum Center for Development and Entrepreneurship at the Sloan School of Management at MIT, A Senior Member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), Chairman of the Quantum Computing Standards Workgroup at the IEEE, the first Ambassador to CERN and Society, a regular contributor to TechCrunch on the topic of Quantum Computing, and the co-author of "Quantum Computing For Babies”. Prior to starting Strangeworks he was a Managing Director at Goldman Sachs [NYSE: GS]. He came to Goldman Sachs via the acquisition of his second startup, Honest Dollar. Prior to Honest Dollar whurley founded Chaotic Moon Studios which was acquired by Accenture [NYSE: ACN].

Ken Durazzo, Vice President of Technology Research and Innovation, Dell Technologies

Ken has over 20 years of experience as a technology leader, working for some of the largest global tech companies. Ken's experiences span Enterprise Network Innovation, Internet Scale Routing and Switching, Security, Wan and Application Optimization, and most recently Artificial Intelligence and Quantum Computing.

In leading the OTCO Research Office (ORO) he primarily focuses on ensuring that the company is well aware of emergent technology inflections and the potential impact to the company. This work has led to exploration in a myriad of future impact technologies such as Quantum computing, Emergent Persistent-Memory, Heterogeneous computing acceleration and virtualization, to name a few.

He currently serves as the Dell representative for both the World Economic Forum: Quantum Network and the Government, University, Industry Research Roundtable (GUIRR) to guide our national research agenda.

Ken is an accomplished speaker at many industry events, on a wide range of topics. Prior to Dell; Ken achieved Distinguished Engineer at Cisco, Led multi-national advanced innovation teams for Huawei Technologies and has 61 granted patents with several more patents pending.