Quantum computing researcher Jiaqi Leng joins Virginia Tech Institute for Advanced Computing
Jiaqi Leng joins Virginia Tech as an assistant professor of computer science, based at the Virginia Tech Institute for Advanced Computing (IAC) in the greater Washington, D.C., area, beginning fall 2026.
Leng comes to Virginia Tech from the University of California, Berkeley, where he served as a postdoctoral fellow at the Simons Institute for the Theory of Computing and the Mathematics Department. His research focuses on developing efficient quantum algorithms and supporting software for large-scale optimization, machine learning, and scientific computing. This work has been recognized in leading journals and peer-reviewed conference venues, including Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Quantum Information Processing Conference, Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems, and the International Conference on Machine Learning.
Leng earned his Ph.D. in applied mathematics from the University of Maryland and his B.S. in mathematics from the University of Hong Kong.
“We are excited to welcome Jiaqi to the IAC faculty,” said Kirk Cameron, managing director of the Institute for Advanced Computing. “His innovative research in quantum algorithms and optimization strengthens our expertise in next-generation computing and will create new opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration and real-world impact.”
At Virginia Tech, Leng will develop quantum solutions that connect theoretical algorithmic advantages with practical, hardware-efficient implementations. His work includes Quantum Hamiltonian Descent (QHD), a quantum analogue of gradient descent that uses quantum tunneling to achieve exponential speedups in complex, non-convex optimization problems. He is also the creator of QHDOPT, an open-source software platform that brings QHD to both gate-based and analog quantum hardware. Leng has additionally developed differentiable hybrid quantum-classical frameworks for optimal control, with applications to large-scale AI and robotics problems.
The IAC advances world-class research and graduate education and is a key element of Virginia Tech’s strategic growth in Northern Virginia.
The IAC currently includes 20 faculty members and serves more than 500 graduate students, with plans to grow to approximately 50 faculty in the coming years. As a faculty affiliate with the IAC’s Center for Quantum Architecture and Software Development, Leng has the opportunity to collaborate with the Center for Quantum Information Science and Engineering in Blacksburg, which includes 15+ faculty across the Colleges of Engineering and Science.
