Episode 148: Gustavo Cancelo on Bridging Classical and Quantum Computing

In Episode 148, Gustavo Cancelo, Senior Scientist at Fermilab near Chicago, joins Patrick and Ciprian to talk about QICK, the Quantum Instrumentation Control Kit, an open source platform developed at Fermilab that has become a widely adopted tool for quantum control and readout across four continents. Gustavo walks through what quantum control actually involves, why calibration and characterization are as important as the qubits themselves, and how QICK's MIT license and affordability have lowered the barrier to entry for universities and startups worldwide. The conversation covers QICK's reach into quantum sensing and networking, including dark matter detection experiments, before closing on QICK 2 — a next-generation version with onboard AI engines and low-latency inter-box communication designed with quantum error correction at scale in mind. Large industry partners including Microsoft and HRL have recently adopted QICK, and QBlocks has acquired commercial distribution rights ahead of the IEEE QSC conference in Toronto in September (https://ieeecsc.org/event/conference/2026-ieee-quantum-week)