In Episode 139, Patrick and Ciprian are joined by Bert de Jong, senior scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. The team discusses quantum computing's role in material science and energy, exploring industry challenges and strategic partnerships. The conversation emphasizes innovation urgency and national labs' influence on the future.

Bert de Jong is the Director of the Quantum Systems Accelerator, which is part of the National Quantum Initiative. In addition, de Jong is the Team Director of the Accelerated Research for Quantum Computing (ARQC) Team MACH-Q, funded by DOE ASCR, focused on developing software stacks for near-term quantum computing devices. In addition, de Jong has a program in AI and machine learning to understand biomolecular processes, and discover new materials and molecular crystals for gas adsorption. de Jong serves as the Department Head for Computational Sciences, and leads the Applied Computing for Scientific Discovery Group, which advances scientific computing by developing and enhancing applications in key disciplines, as well as developing HPC, quantum and AI tools and libraries for addressing general problems in computational science.