The fAQ Podcast is back from hiatus! In our first episode of season 3, Tai-Danae explores what it takes to lead and innovate at the bleeding edge of deep tech with SandboxAQ's Stefan Bogdanovic, Strategic Innovation Lead on the AQMed team. Moving from abstract scientific concepts to building real-world medical products requires a complete shift in mindset, and Stefan walks us through exactly how he navigated that transition.

Stefan’s journey is a masterclass in resilience, starting from his childhood in Serbia during the turbulent 1990s. Originally determined to be a pure theoretical physicist, he opens up about his early battles with imposter syndrome in a dry, highly mathematical educational system that lacked psychological safety. We dive into his evolution from an academic holding the unofficial title of "Chief Morale Officer" for his team at Harvard, to a deep tech leader navigating the messy reality of product development.

Stefan shares hard-hitting leadership lessons from SandboxAQ, including the pivotal moment his team’s three-year project on a magnetocardiography device failed its first clinical trial at UCSF after picking up interference from elevators and laptops. He explains why failing early is a necessary gift in deep tech, how startups often get product strategy backward by prioritizing tech over the application, and why technical leaders must be willing to strip away their professional ego and identity to truly solve a problem.

Learn more about what the AQMed is working on here: https://www.sandboxaq.com/solutions/aqmed

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• “From D&D to Quantum Discovery | Stefan Bogdanovic's AQtive Mind” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SuWl0W-c2w8
• “From Diamonds to Heartbeats: Stefan Bogdanovic’s Journey” https://www.sandboxaq.com/post/from-diamonds-to-heartbeats-stefan-bogdanovics-journey

About this podcast

This podcast is hosted by Tai-Danae Bradley and features the stories of amazing people working in science and technology at SandboxAQ and beyond. All curious humans are invited to join!

Want to get in touch? Write us at faq-podcast@sandboxaq.com

For previous episodes, check out https://www.youtube.com/@sandboxaq

Welcome to season 2 finale of fAQ! For this season, Tai-Danae and Adam focused on a single topic: What is actually happening inside a quantum computer? By the end of this season, you'll have a better understanding of the "how" of quantum computing. So get ready to go beyond the theory and dig into what's actually going on these machines that harness the fundamental forces of the universe! In this sixth episode, we continue our exploration into DiVincenzo's fifth criterion for functional quantum computers: "Measurement of individual qubits". Specifically, we dig into what it means to "measure" something, in both the everyday context and in the quantum world. You might end up being surprised how similar those are and how not-strange measurement is in the quantum context...well at least some parts of those measurements! Oh, and we talk about how you, yes YOU, can work towards winning a Nobel Prize using the fAQ comment section ;-) Want to get in touch? Write us at faq-podcast@sandboxaq.com Host Bios: Tai-Danae Bradley is a research mathematician at SandboxAQ. She earned a PhD in mathematics from the CUNY Graduate Center and is creator of the mathematics blog, Math3ma, and a former cohost of PBS Infinite Series. Adam Green is the Head of Science Education at SandboxAQ. He earned a PhD in ecology and evolutionary biology from the University of Rochester and was the Director of US Academic Content at Khan Academy before joining Sandbox. Resources mentioned on this episode: https://pennylane.ai/qml/demos/tutorial_trapped_ions https://pennylane.ai/qml/demos/tutorial_sc_qubits https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-does-the-quantum-world-cross-over/ Want to learn more about what SandboxAQ does? Check out our blog: https://www.sandboxaq.com/blog

Heads-up, you might want to check out the video version of fAQ this time, there are a lot of graphics that will help you through this topic!Welcome to season 2 of fAQ!

For this season, Tai-Danae and Adam will be focusing on a single topic: What is actually happening inside a quantum computer? By the end of this season, you'll have a better understanding of the "how" of quantum computing. So get ready to go beyond the theory and dig into what's actually going on these machines that harness the fundamental forces of the universe!

In this fifth episode, we continue our exploration into DiVincenzo's fourth criterion for functional quantum computers: "A universal set of quantum gates". Specifically, we look at two-qubit gates and really dig into how quantum entanglement works and how to create it among trapped ions. And along the way, you'll hear about what old-school Nintendo cheat codes and not-stealing M&Ms has to do with all of this!

Want to get in touch? Write us at faq-podcast@sandboxaq.com

Host Bios:

Tai-Danae Bradley is a research mathematician at SandboxAQ. She earned a PhD in mathematics from the CUNY Graduate Center and is creator of the mathematics blog, Math3ma, and a former cohost of PBS Infinite Series.

Adam Green is the Head of Science Education at SandboxAQ. He earned a PhD in ecology and evolutionary biology from the University of Rochester and was the Director of US Academic Content at Khan Academy before joining Sandbox.

Resources mentioned on this episode:

Want to learn more about what SandboxAQ does? Check out our blog: https://www.sandboxaq.com/blog

Want an video version of this podcast? Check it out at: https://youtu.be/dntGyI8DtYI