Professor Gang Qiu receives NSF CAREER Award for energy-efficient cryogenic memory research
Professor Gang Qiu has received the National Science Foundation (NSF) Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award. A highly competitive and prestigious award, it recognizes and supports faculty early in their careers who show the potential to “serve as academic role models in research and education and to lead advances in the mission of their department or organization.”
Qiu’s project, “Energy-Efficient Magnetic Random-Access Memory (MRAM) with All-Superconducting Operations,” aims to develop a new class of energy-efficient memory technologies operating at low temperatures for future data centers and quantum technologies. The award will provide him with $550,000 in support through the Division of Electrical, Communications and Cyber Systems over five years to advance both research and education initiatives.
As AI models become larger and more powerful, the electricity required to train and operate them is growing exponentially and is projected to consume up to 12 percent of total electricity in the U.S. by 2028. Within the current data-centric computing scheme, non-volatile memory devices that store and retrieve information are a major contributor to energy dissipation.
Qiu’s project envisions a new paradigm of future data centers operating at low temperatures to harness the zero-resistance, dissipation-less nature of superconducting currents to perform memory read and write operations. He proposes a class of new superconducting magnetic memory devices, which can eliminate Joule heating and has the potential to reduce energy consumption by orders of magnitude compared to existing technologies. The research also advances fundamental understanding at the intersection of superconductivity and spintronics, particularly how spin-polarized supercurrents interact with magnetic materials. The project will be conducted in collaboration with Distinguished McKnight University Professor and Robert F. Hartmann Chair Jian-Ping Wang, a leading expert in spintronics and magnetic materials.
As part of the CAREER award, Qiu will also develop innovative educational programs, including AI-assisted personalized curriculum design and interactive learning tools. The project will also expand outreach efforts on quantum engineering to train the next generation of engineers and scientists to address the national workforce shortage in the microelectronics and quantum sectors.
Qiu is also the recipient of the DARPA Young Faculty Award (YFA). Read about his YFA-funded research.
One of the most prestigious awards instituted by the NSF, it recognizes and supports faculty early in their careers who show the potential to “serve as academic role models in research and education and to lead advances in the mission of their department or organization.”