Follow Us:

Team members Joshua Guttman, Javier Thayer, Priscilla Henry, Marvin Drake, and Gerry Gilbert at Bedford's Quantum Information Lab.

For Gerry Gilbert, a theoretical physicist with a penchant for quantum mechanics, his first day of work at MITRE in the fall of 1996 was both disconcerting and yet crammed with opportunity. Back then MITRE's quantum presence was virtually non-existent although the need for one was clearly evident. Bell Labs' Peter Shor and his quantum algorithm had just shocked the world of cryptography by quickly cracking a previously uncrackable computer code. Computer security was now in disarray and vulnerable. The race was on!

Today, Dr. Gilbert is Director of the MITRE Quantum Information Science Group and Principal Investigator of the MITRE Quantum Information Processing Project. However, the story preceding this transformation is remarkable for both Gilbert and MITRE alike. Luck, pluck, persistence and hard work have brought MITRE from a zero-sum presence to a share of world leadership in quantum science.

As inventive and determined as his former research fellows Nobel Laureate Steven Weinberg and Stephen Hawking, Gilbert resourcefully put together a topflight team—and what in research circles is akin to a quantum flash of time—quickly guided MITRE to prominence in quantum cryptography. "At first it was a team of one: me." he remembers. "I was constantly knocking on MITRE doors and giving my quantum pitch, hoping all the while that I could leap from Innovation Grant to Innovation Grant until I landed something substantial like MITRE Sponsored Research."

Team members Michael Hamrick, Anthony Donadio, Robert Ewing, Gerry Gilbert at Eatontown's Innovative Solutions Lab.

His MITRE Technical Report in 1998 titled, Quantum Computing and the MITRE Mission was his breakthrough document, gaining for him in August of 1999 MITRE Sponsored Research (MSR) that has since been renewed through 2003. In July of 2000—now with a team of researchers, algorithm developers and experimental physicists at his side, as well as offices at MITRE New Jersey and a laboratory at MITRE Bedford—Gerry's team succeeded in demonstrating quantum cryptography. That demonstration catapulted them into recognition and also into an intense spotlight of attention from the armed services, the intelligence community, and information security specialists. Quantum computing had finally arrived at MITRE and in a very big way. "To the company's great credit," says a very thankful Gilbert, "MITRE funded us, gave us space and equipment…then backed off and let us do our thing."

Gilbert has come a long way from his days of pounding doors trying to find a willing ear or two for his quantum ideas. Recently, he received a Director's Award for Technical Excellence, and this past June was one of only three MITRE programs to receive a prestigious Program Innovation Award.

And just as he has spread the word of quantum computing, he has also spread encouragement among fellow MITRE researchers. "I was totally inspired by Gerry's story," enthuses Qian Hu, lead engineer in Artificial Intelligence and recent recipient of MITRE Sponsored Research in audio hot spotting. "It gave me confidence to push for an MSR to support my own small area of work. I did…and I got one!"