Episode 2207: Martin Schmidt, President of Rensselaer Institute of Technology, on how Quantum Computing is about the change the world

Keen On

Finally a tech show not about AI. Martin Schmidt is the President of Rensselaer Institute of Technology (RPI) as well a distinguished technologist in his own right. So rather than having just another conversation about AI, I talked to Schmidt about how he expects quantum computing to change the world. Schmidt, who taught at MIT for many years, has a particularly interesting take on quantum because RPI is the first university in the world to house an IBM Quantum System One at its new Quantum Computational Center. So Schmidt’s insights are practical rather than speculative and he offers a very concrete understanding of why quantum will, in the not too distant future, revolutionize not just computing, but also medicine and many other scientific fields.

Martin A. Schmidt, the 19th President of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), took office on July 1, 2022. Prior to coming to RPI, Schmidt served as the provost of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) since 2014 and was also MIT's senior academic and budget officer. He was responsible for the Institute’s educational programs, as well as for the recruitment, promotion, and tenuring of faculty. As provost, he worked closely with MIT’s deans to establish academic priorities, and with other members of the Institute’s senior team to manage financial planning and research support. He also had oversight of MIT’s international engagements. Schmidt was a member of MIT's Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science faculty since 1988, and also served as director of MIT’s Microsystems Technology Laboratories from 1999 to 2006 and as associate provost from 2008 to 2013. He was also the Ray and Maria Stata Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, and is a fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), an international organization aimed at advancing technology.

Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children.

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