Merge pull request #355 from unitaryfund/nathanshammah-patch-12

src/content/blog/2023_mitiq_nsf_pose.md

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+---
+title: Unitary Fund is awarded a NSF grant to grow the quantum open source ecosystem
+author: Nathan Shammah and Will Zeng
+day: 21
+month: 8
+year: 2023
+---
+
+We are thrilled to announce that Unitary Fund has been awarded a $1.5M [grant](https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2303643&HistoricalAwards=false) by the National Science Foundation (NSF) to grow the open-source ecosystem around the [Mitiq](https://mitiq.readthedocs.io/en/latest/) project. 
+
+This is a milestone for Unitary Fund, further establishing its impact as a new kind of research organization. We are grateful to the wide community of tech staff members, contributors, members, supporters, partners and users. We are excited for the growth of the Mitiq ecosystem.  
+
+## About Mitiq
+[Mitiq](https://mitiq.readthedocs.io/en/latest/) is a compiler that makes programs more robust to errors in quantum computers. Because quantum computers have high error rates, compiling for error robustness is critical for useful applications. Mitiq is the leading quantum error mitigation compiler and has recently hit 100k downloads and is developed by a community of over 50 contributors worldwide.
+
+## About the Mitiq Open Source Ecosystem (OSE)
+The Mitiq OSE will attract and support a large community of users and contributors that extends beyond today's core developers and initial user base. This expansion will include product management, infrastructure engineering, community management, governance, and user success. Specifically, this project will focus on user-led development of digital interfaces and resources, accelerated advancement in quantum error mitigation, compatibility with emerging hardware, dependencies and related software packages, establishment of standards and benchmarks, and dissemination of results and software integration. 
+
+By building the Mitiq OSE, we will increase open access to software based techniques that reduce noise sensitivities of programs and protocols, accelerating the adoption of cutting edge research by quantum computing users and improving quantum technology for all users across a significant new industry.
+
+Dr. Nathan Shammah (PI) and Dr. Will Zeng (Co-PI) will coordinate the project for Unitary Fund.
+The grant is awarded within the innovative framework of the Pathways for Open Source Ecosystem ([POSE](https://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2022/nsf22572/nsf22572.htm)) launched last year by NSF Directorate for Technology, Innovation and Partnerships (TIP).
+
+![](/images/nsf_mitiq.png)
+
+## From the award announcement
+> [This grant will allow Unitary Fund] to develop a sustainable OSE and infrastructure around the Python library Mitiq, a cross-platform compiler that enables programs to be more robust to the errors present in Noisy Intermediate-Scale Quantum (NISQ) hardware devices. The growth of an OSE around Mitiq will improve the performance of currently available quantum computers for users everywhere, and will accelerate the development of use cases for this critical technology across academia, government, and industry.
+> This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
+