{"693837":{"#nid":"693837","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Brand Lecture Explores the Future of Memory and Quantum Computing","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EThe \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/matter-systems.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EInstitute for Matter and Systems\u003C\/a\u003E (IMS) at Georgia Tech hosted the fourth annual Oliver Brand Memorial Lectureship on Electronics and Nanotechnology, continuing a tradition of honoring Brand\u2019s legacy by inviting experts to campus to explore electronics and nanotechnology research.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThis year\u2019s lecture, the first featuring two speakers, was presented by Adharsh Rajagopal of Micron Technology, and Michael Hamilton of Auburn University and Google Quantum AI. Their talks explored two rapidly evolving areas of computing: next-generation memory technologies and the engineering challenges of scaling quantum computers.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EEstablished in Brand\u2019s memory, the annual lectureship recognizes his lasting impact on Georgia Tech as a researcher, educator, mentor, and leader. During more than two decades at Georgia Tech, Brand helped strengthen connections across disciplines and advance the Institute\u2019s research community in electronics and nanotechnology.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cOliver Brand had a remarkable ability to bring people together, build bridges across disciplines, institutions, and perspectives,\u201d said \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/matter-systems.gatech.edu\/people\/eric-vogel\u0022\u003EEric Vogel\u003C\/a\u003E, executive director of IMS. \u201cHe helped shape not only Georgia Tech\u2019s research enterprise, but also the culture of collaboration that continues to define it today.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBrand\u2019s interdisciplinary spirit was reflected throughout both presentations.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ERajagopal focused on one of the challenges of rapid artificial intelligence growth: How can memory technology keep pace with computing systems?\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cAs AI increases the amount of compute, memory innovations need to take advantage of the increase in compute,\u201d said Rajagopal.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EMeeting computing demands requires more than simple hardware changes. Rajagopal discussed innovations in materials, devices, wafer bonding, advanced metrology, and three-dimensional dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) architectures. DRAM is a type of random-access memory that can provide higher density storage at a lower cost. As traditional scaling approaches become more difficult, moving into three dimensions could provide a pathway for increasing memory density, but it would require advances across the entire stack.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cImprovement and breakthrough in memory needs to be a co-optimization of material, device, process, equipment and architecture across the scale,\u201d said Rajagopal. \u201cThis is what makes it very challenging, but it also makes working in memory one of the most exciting things at this point in time.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHamilton brought a similar interdisciplinary perspective to a different challenge: scaling quantum systems.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EQuantum computers have the potential to address complex problems that are difficult to solve using classical computing systems, including questions in materials and chemistry. Turning that potential into large-scale systems, however, involves challenges that extend beyond quantum physics. Future computers could require millions of qubits, the basic units of information in quantum computing, operating at extremely low temperatures. Scaling these systems creates challenges involving electrical engineering, materials science, nanofabrication, packaging, interconnects, thermal management, and testing.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFor Hamilton, one of the most important challenges is also the most familiar one: wiring.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThis whole thing is just wires, which is cool if you like wires,\u201d said Hamilton while showing an image of Google\u2019s quantum computing system. \u201cBut it doesn\u2019t scale.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ESolving the scalability problem requires researchers to look beyond individual components and consider the entire system, an approach that creates opportunities for experts across numerous disciplines to contribute to the future of quantum computing.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cSome people probably look at this and say, \u2018Wow, there\u2019s no way I\u2019ll be able to do that,\u2019\u201d said Hamilton. \u201cI look at it as a challenge.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAlthough the two lectures examined different technologies, they arrived at a similar conclusion. Whether the goal is building memory capable of supporting increasingly powerful AI systems or developing quantum computers that can operate at meaningful scale, innovation depends on expertise that crosses materials, devices, fabrication, packaging, and systems.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBrand, who passed away in 2023, left a legacy that lives on through interdisciplinary research at Georgia Tech. For more than 20 years, he served on the Institute\u2019s faculty and led the Institute for Electronics and Nanotechnology, which later evolved into the Institute for Matter and Systems, for nine years. He was a professor in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, director of the Coordinating Office for the National Science Foundation-funded National Nanotechnology Coordinated Infrastructure (NNCI), and director of the Southeastern Nanotechnology Infrastructure Corridor, one of the 16 NNCI sites.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBrand united researchers in electronics and nanotechnology, fostering collaboration and expanding the Institute for Electronics and Nanotechnology to include more than 200 faculty members. In addition to his respected work in microelectromechanical systems, he is remembered for his kindness, dedication, and unwavering support for all who knew him.\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EThe Oliver Brand Memorial Lectureship on Electronics and Nanotechnology highlighted the interdisciplinary approaches needed to advance memory technologies and scale quantum computing.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"The Oliver Brand Memorial Lectureship on Electronics and Nanotechnology highlighted the interdisciplinary approaches needed to advance memory technologies and scale quantum computing."}],"uid":"35272","created_gmt":"2026-11-06 14:05:44","changed_gmt":"2026-11-06 14:20:52","author":"aneumeister3","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","location":"Atlanta, GA","dateline":{"date":"2026-11-06T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2026-11-06T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"681680":{"id":"681680","type":"image","title":"brand_lecture2.jpg","body":"\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003EThe Oliver Brand Memorial Lectureship on Electronics and Nanotechnology honors the legacy of Oliver Brand by inviting experts to campus to explore electronics and nanotechnology research.\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E","created":"1793974452","gmt_created":"2026-11-06 14:14:12","changed":"1793974452","gmt_changed":"2026-11-06 14:14:12","alt":"A speaker at a lectern and another presenter holding a microphone introduce the Oliver Brand Memorial Lectureship on Electronics and Nanotechnology, featuring Adharsh Rajagopal and Michael Hamilton.","file":{"fid":"266119","name":"brand_lecture2.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/11\/06\/brand_lecture2.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/11\/06\/brand_lecture2.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":968111,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2026\/11\/06\/brand_lecture2.jpg?itok=e-EoBdpB"}},"681679":{"id":"681679","type":"image","title":"brand_lecture.jpg","body":"\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003EThe Marcus Nanotechnology Building was full while attendees gathered to listen to this year\u0027s Oliver Brand Memorial Lectureship on Electronics and Nanotechnology presented by Adharsh Rajagopal and Michael Hamilton.\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E","created":"1793974452","gmt_created":"2026-11-06 14:14:12","changed":"1793974452","gmt_changed":"2026-11-06 14:14:12","alt":"A packed Georgia Tech lecture hall watches a presentation on noise thermalization and signal attenuation, with lecture slides projected across several screens.","file":{"fid":"266118","name":"brand_lecture.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/11\/06\/brand_lecture.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/11\/06\/brand_lecture.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":1375173,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2026\/11\/06\/brand_lecture.jpg?itok=cQ-jpk-l"}},"681681":{"id":"681681","type":"image","title":"hamilton_quantum_web.jpg","body":"\u003Cp\u003EMichael Hamilton presents his talk \u0022Quantum Computing at Google Quantum AI.\u0022\u003C\/p\u003E","created":"1793974452","gmt_created":"2026-11-06 14:14:12","changed":"1793974452","gmt_changed":"2026-11-06 14:14:12","alt":"A presenter stands at a lectern beside a Quantum AI slide stating, \u201cOur mission is to build quantum computing for otherwise unsolvable problems,\u201d over a quantum-computer image.","file":{"fid":"266120","name":"hamilton_quantum_web.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/11\/06\/hamilton_quantum_web.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/11\/06\/hamilton_quantum_web.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":800930,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2026\/11\/06\/hamilton_quantum_web.jpg?itok=B7uZ2gCb"}},"681682":{"id":"681682","type":"image","title":"Rajagopal_web.jpg","body":"\u003Cp\u003EAdarsh Rajagopal presents his talk \u0022The Future of Memory: Scaling DRAM and Enabling New Memory Architectures.\u0022\u003C\/p\u003E","created":"1793974452","gmt_created":"2026-11-06 14:14:12","changed":"1793974452","gmt_changed":"2026-11-06 14:14:12","alt":"A presenter at a lectern discusses AI, DRAM technology, and new memory architectures beside a slide highlighting memory advances, three-dimensional scaling, and materials and process innovations.","file":{"fid":"266121","name":"Rajagopal_web.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/11\/06\/Rajagopal_web.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/11\/06\/Rajagopal_web.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":955793,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2026\/11\/06\/Rajagopal_web.jpg?itok=X7WlwOpP"}}},"media_ids":["681680","681679","681681","681682"],"groups":[{"id":"660369","name":"Matter and Systems"}],"categories":[{"id":"149","name":"Nanotechnology and Nanoscience"}],"keywords":[{"id":"187915","name":"go-researchnews"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"193652","name":"Matter and Systems"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:amelia.neumeister@research.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EAmelia Neumeister\u003C\/a\u003E | Communications Manager\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe Institute for Matter and Systems\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["amelia.neumeister@research.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}