Virginia Tech continues to grow its research footprint in the Washington, D.C. area with the appointment of Jiaqi Leng. Leng joins the Institute for Advanced Computing as an assistant professor of computer science starting this fall.
His academic background includes a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of California, Berkeley, where he worked within the Simons Institute for the Theory of Computing and the Mathematics Department. He earned his doctorate in applied mathematics from the University of Maryland and his bachelor's degree from the University of Hong Kong.
Leng specializes in the creation of efficient quantum algorithms and software for machine learning and scientific computing. His work includes the development of Quantum Hamiltonian Descent, a method designed to solve complex, non-convex optimization problems by using quantum tunneling to gain speed. He also created QHDOPT, an open-source platform that allows researchers to apply these quantum solutions to both analog and gate-based hardware.
At the Institute for Advanced Computing, Leng will focus on linking theoretical algorithm design with hardware-efficient implementations. The institute currently counts 20 faculty members and supports more than 500 graduate students, with plans to expand the faculty to 50 members in the coming years. This addition marks a significant step for the university as it aims to strengthen its interdisciplinary research capacity in next-generation computing.