Merge pull request #510 from KallieFerguson/patch-28

WIP_Create 2024_Q2.md

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+---
+title: "Unitary Fund Q2 2024 Update: unitaryHACK, Qrack integration, new grants and upcoming events" 
+author: Kallie Ferguson
+day: 29
+month: 7
+year: 2024
+tags: 
+  - Quarterly Newsletter
+---
+
+Dear Unitary Fund community,
+
+We are excited to share our 2024 Q2 quarterly update! In Q2 we wrapped up [UnitaryHACK 2024](https://unitaryhack.dev/), held from May 29th to June 12th, which was our most successful and largest hackathon to date! We were thrilled to see 873 people registered from 71 different countries, making this truly a global event. UnitaryHACK also saw a significant increase in the number of participating projects, from 33 last year to 49 this year, reflecting the growing interest and involvement in our community.
+
+![uHACK Stats](/images/2024_uHACK_stats.png)
+
+We were excited to host in-person hackdays at various locations, fostering community engagement and collaboration at Aalto University in Helsinki, UNAM in Mexico City, and University of Washington in Seattle. These events provided an excellent opportunity for participants to meet face-to-face, share ideas, and work together in real-time.
+
+![uHACK Events](/images/2024_Q2_uHACK.png)
+
+We couldn't have achieved this without the generous support of our sponsors and core members:
+
+- Event Sponsors: Quantinuum, NVIDIA, Classiq, QuEra
+- Core Members: IBM Quantum, DoraHacks, OQD, and Scientifica.
+- Supporting Members: AWS, Microsoft, Pasqal, QC Ware, SandboxAQ
+
+The enthusiasm, creativity, and hard work demonstrated by all participants have set a high bar, and we are excited to see how we can continue to grow and improve. Thank you to everyone who participated, supported, and contributed to making UnitaryHACK 2024 a resounding success. Let's keep the momentum going and continue to make impactful contributions to the open source quantum ecosystem!
+
+Make sure to follow our [Discord](https://discord.com/invite/JqVGmpkP96), [X](https://twitter.com/unitaryfund), [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/company/unitary-fund/), and our [Community Calendar](https://calendar.google.com/calendar/u/0/[email protected]).
+
+## New from Unitary Fund
+
+Unitary Fund co-authored “Quantum amplitude estimation from classical signal processing.” [[2405.14697]](https://arxiv.org/abs/2405.14697)
+
+**QRack**
+
+[Qrack](https://github.com/unitaryfund/qrack) is now fully integrated as a plugin of PennyLane and Catalyst with just in time compilation with the new [PennyLane v0.37 and Catalyst v0.7 release](https://pennylane.ai/blog/2024/07/pennylane-release-0.37/?utm_source=linkedin&utm_medium=pennylane_social&utm_campaign=blog&utm_content=pennylane-release-0.37). 
+
+**Mitiq**
+
+Sign up for the [Mitiq Newsletter](https://forms.gle/6UcUjSawHyweXhQV7)! 
+PhD students Ella Carlander, Ruhee Nirodi, and Alexandros Peltekis at the University of Washington completed a capstone course working on the resource requirement pipeline for quantum error mitigation using Mitiq. Read more about their work [here](https://unitary.fund/posts/2024_capstone_uw/)!
+
+New Releases: [v0.36.0](https://github.com/unitaryfund/mitiq/releases/tag/v0.36.0), [v0.37.0](https://github.com/unitaryfund/mitiq/releases/tag/v0.37.0), [v0.38.0](https://github.com/unitaryfund/mitiq/releases/tag/v0.38.0)
+
+- [v0.38.0](https://github.com/unitaryfund/mitiq/releases/tag/v0.38.0): 
+🚀 As of this release, thanks to @natestemen, we are officially supporting Python 3.12 and dropping Python 3.9.
+🌉 As part of UnitaryHack 2024, new contributor @NnguyenHTommy fixed a Qiskit to Cirq gate conversion error by implementing a fallback mechanism to decompose and transpile the Qiskit circuit into native Cirq gates.
+🌀 Another Unitary Hacker, @EmilianoG-byte added functionality to simulate noise specifically on CNOT and CZ gates when using the Pauli Twirling technique to symmetrize errors.
+🔉 As hinted in last release's spoilers, @purva-thakre has implemented the noise scaling functionality required for the Layerwise Richardson Extrapolation (LRE) technique, which allows a more fine-grained control over the amount of noise in circuits compared to the standard unitary folding method.
+- [v0.37.0](https://github.com/unitaryfund/mitiq/releases/tag/v0.37.0): ✨ Stacking quantum error mitigation techniques is a primary area of focus in Mitiq. In this release, @jordandsullivan introduced a Tutorial on composing Digital Dynamical Decoupling (DDD) and Zero Noise Extrapolation (ZNE). Users also now have the option to download tutorials in Jupyter .ipynb format directly from our documentation. We hope this will encourage experimentation with existing tutorials.
+- [v0.36.0](https://github.com/unitaryfund/mitiq/releases/tag/v0.36.0): Support for Qiskit 1.0: Mitiq now fully supports programs written in Qiskit 1.0, thanks to the contributions of André Alves!
+
+**Metriq** 
+
+The [progress chart](https://metriq.info/Progress) has been updated with new data points and controls to separate out classically intractable and practically or industrially useful data subsets. The Open Quantum Benchmark Committee had its second plenary meeting to discuss state-of-the-art metrics forwarded by topic-specific subcommittee members and plan objectives for the committee for the next quarter.
+
+**Conferences we attended in Q2**
+- [JuliaCon](https://juliacon.org/2024/minisymposia/quantum/)
+- WQS PLDI
+- Teratec Quantum Benchmarks
+
+## Microgrant updates
+
+**Qlasskit**: this quarter qlasskit received contributions from hackers of UnitaryHack 2024, and reached version 0.1.29! These are the highlights from the git log:
+- Implement ast.Pow Operator Rewriting Rule in AstRewriter by [@tomv42](https://github.com/tomv42) in [#49](https://github.com/dakk/qlasskit/pull/49)
+- Add py2bexp and py2qasm CLI tools by [@tomv42](https://github.com/tomv42) in [#56](https://github.com/dakk/qlasskit/pull/56) and [#59](https://github.com/dakk/qlasskit/pull/59)
+- Bernstein Vazirani algorithm by [@divshacker](https://github.com/divshacker) in [#60](https://github.com/dakk/qlasskit/pull/60)
+- int and float cast functions by [@dakk](https://github.com/dakk) in [#25](https://github.com/dakk/qlasskit/pull/25)
+- Shift and Add multiplication by [@dakk](https://github.com/dakk) in [#41](https://github.com/dakk/qlasskit/pull/41)
+- Improvements and refactoring of the compilers
+- Qfixed type by [@dakk](https://github.com/dakk) in [#20](https://github.com/dakk/qlasskit/pull/20)
+
+**QWorld**: The first global virtual class, [QClass23/24](https://qworld.net/qclass23-24/), by [QWorld](https://qworld.net/) was completed successfully in June 2024. We hosted 1.3K+ students from all around the world. More than 10 quantum courses, self-study modules, or challenges were offered, and in total 831 certificates were handed out. 
+
+**toqito**: v1.0.9 of [toqito](https://github.com/vprusso/toqito) was released earlier this week. A full update on what improvements, new features, and changes went in can be found on the [release page](https://github.com/vprusso/toqito/releases/tag/v1.0.9). The toqito project also won first place out of more than 400 open-source projects at the [KaiCode 2024 competition](https://github.com/vprusso/toqito/releases/tag/v1.0.9)—a huge thanks to the community who have continued to improve and use toqito. The monetary rewards will be recycled back into continuing to improve the toqito project and to incentivize further contributions from members.   
+
+**Integration of Zero-Noise Extrapolation from Mitiq into OpenQAOA**: Congratulations to Unitary Fund grantee recipients Adriano Lusso and Victor Onofre for their poster acceptance at QPL 2024! Their work on ["Simulating unknown qubit-unitary inversion with zero-noise extrapolation"](https://zenodo.org/records/12538965) utilizes noise models and the Mitiq toolkit to implement ZNE and analyzes deviations from theoretical results.
+
+**Congratulations to Gerald E. Fux on the [version 0.5 release of OQuPy](2406.16650)!** Gerald received a microgrant from Unitary Fund in 2021 for developing an open source python package for simulating non-Markovian open quantum systems using tensor network techniques.
+
+## Q2 Grants
+- To **[Markus Heinrich](https://www.markus-heinrich.eu/), [Jonas Helsen](https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonas-helsen-026506b4/)** and **Ingo Roth** to further develop **Error-agnostic shadow estimation**, to show that logarithmic-depth random circuits are sufficient to estimate expectation values of a large class of global observables.
+- To **Carter M. Gustin** to further develop [OpenParticle](https://github.com/cgustin99/OpenParticle/tree/main), providing specialized tools for people studying quantum field theory(QFT).
+- To **[Dorcas Attuabea Addo](http://linkedin.com/in/dorcas-attuabea-addo), [Henry Martin](http://linkedin.com/in/henry-martin-phd-54704869), [Peter Nimbe](http://linkedin.com/in/dr-peter-nimbe-945b1b32)** to further develop **GQuantum Education**, a quantum education initiative based in Ghana.
+- To **[Kevin Mato](https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevin-mato-quantum/)** to further develop **[MQT Qudits](https://github.com/cda-tum/mqt-qudits)**, a quantum open-source software framework for mixed-dimensional quantum computing.
+- To **Aaron Trowbridge** to further develop **[Piccolo.jl](https://github.com/aarontrowbridge/Piccolo.jl)**, releasing a 1.0 version that will further segment the code base, separating the backend solver interface code into a QuantumCollocationCore.jl package as well as make it easy for python users to use the quantum optimal control method.
+- To **[Timothy King](https://www.linkedin.com/in/temking/)** and **[Ella Meyer](https://www.linkedin.com/in/ella-meyer-6a887313a/)** to further develop **[Quantum Arcade](https://quantumalgorithmsinstitute-my.sharepoint.com/:p:/g/personal/timothy_king_quantumalgorithmsinstitute_ca/EdDQc-vYI3lOvFxdMwiBzcIBu4HZQWkYdogPLuqJrmpwJg?rtime=Zwsxb0qk3Eg)**, creating a landing page and currating existing quantum games as well as developing resources for new games to help teach quantum computing globally.
+- To **Oxana Shaya** and **Konstantin Golovkin** to further develop **[Lie algebraic properties of quantum circuits](https://github.com/AmanieOxana/Lie_props)**, an implementation of functionalities that help with the understanding of the Lie algebra of a quantum circuit.
+- To **Ella Carlander** and **Ruhee Nirodi** to further develop **[Overhead and Performance Analysis for Mitiq’s Quantum Error Mitigation Implementations](https://unitary.fund/posts/2024_capstone_uw/)**, a tool that can characterize overhead for different QEM methods and compare them.
+
+## Coming up
+
+- August 12-18: This summer we will be hosting a Mitiq workshop as part of the summer school on [Numerical Methods in Quantum Information Science](https://qnumerics.org/).
+- September 9-10: Find Unitary Fund at [Finnish Quantum Days](https://instituteq.fi/fqd/#:~:text=9.9%20%2D%2010.9.,2024&text=The%20Finnish%20Quantum%20Days%2C%20supported,as%20InstituteQ's%20Symposium%20in%202023.) in Helsinki, Finland!
+- September 11: Unitary Fund will be participating in [Quantum Resource Estimation for Neutral Atom Computers (QRE2024)](https://www.quantumresource.org/) in Helsinki, Finland.
+- September 12-14: Unitary Fund will be hosting the second annual [UnitaryCON](https://unitary.fund/community/unitaryCON/). Interested in attending? Send us an email at [email protected].
+- September 15-20: Find Unitary Fund at IEEE Quantum Week! 
+    - Misty Wahl is a panelist in the workshop for  “Academic and Professional Training in Quantum Computing: The Importance of Open-source as a co-author on the panel” taking place on Friday, September 20.
+    - Dan Strano is co-presenting the workshop “Quantum Software 2.0: Enabling Large-scale and Performant Quantum Computing” on Thursday, Sept 19.
+    - Kallie Ferguson is co-author with IBM Quantum and Quantinuumon for the panel “[Effective DEIA Requires Accountability](https://qce.quantum.ieee.org/2024/program/panels-abstracts/#pan10).”