When:
Wednesday, November 19, 2025
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM CT
Where: Mudd Hall ( formerly Seeley G. Mudd Library), 3514, 2233 Tech Drive, Evanston, IL 60208 map it
Audience: Faculty/Staff - Student - Post Docs/Docs - Graduate Students
Cost: free
Contact:
Wynante R Charles
(847) 467-8174
wynante.charles@northwestern.edu
Group: Department of Computer Science (CS)
Category: Academic
Wednesday / CS Seminar
November 19 / 12:00 PM
Hybrid / Mudd 3514
Speaker
Robert Rand, University of Chicago
Talk Title
Quantum Programming in Qunity
Abstract
Qunity is a high-level functional language for writing quantum programs in the style of OCaml or Haskell. Qunity treats classical and quantum data equivalently, allowing us to run the same programs on classical data and quantum superpositions. It takes key concepts from classical programming, like pattern matching, try-catch blocks, and data duplication and lifts them to the quantum setting. In this talk, I will describe Qunity, along with recent extensions that enable easier classical and pure quantum programming, and its compiler to quantum circuits.
Biography
Robert Rand is an Assistant Professor of Computer Science at the University of Chicago. His research focuses on programming languages and verification for quantum computing and his main projects include the Qunity quantum programming language, the BellKAT DSL for quantum networking, and VyZX, a verified ZX calculus library. He also works on a range of verification projects, from adding automation to the Rocq proof assistant to developing quantum program logics. Robert developed and maintains the INQWIRE QuantumLib, an open-source library for verified quantum computing in Rocq, which underlies many of his projects including his online textbook, Verified Quantum Computing.