Science on the Hill: Planning for a post quantum future

Author: Deidre Hudson Reuss

Senior Marketing Manager

2025 is the ninth year that Scientific American and Nature Portfolio—part of Springer Nature—hosted Science on the Hill, an event that seeks to ensure that the knowledge, findings and insights generated by research reaches policymakers who are helping make decisions that affect all of us.

This year’s discussion on Capitol Hill was titled ‘Planning for a post quantum future’.

The gathering featured a panel of three distinguished experts:

• Eric Rescolra, a former CTO of Firefox and former Chief Technologist at the Center for Forecasting and Outbreak Analytics
• Dr. Zaira Nazario, quantum theorist and Director of Science and Technology at the Office of the Director at IBM Research
• Nima Leclerc, research scientist at the MITRE Corporation

and was moderated by Clara Moskowitz, Senior Editor, Scientific American. The event was attended by a bipartisan group of policymakers from Congress, federal agencies, and academia.

I spoke to Laura Patton, Head of Government Affairs, US at Springer Nature, who orchestrated this year’s panel.

Quantum is a buzzword getting a lot of attention recently? Why is that?

2025 has been declared the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology! Digital security experts around the world have their eyes fixed on the Y2Q—“Years to Quantum”—clock, which ticks down the time until the projected date when a quantum computer will be able to break an essential form of modern cryptography. Called public-key cryptography, it keeps your credit card number safe when you shop online and ensures that your phone's software update is coming from the phone company and not a hacker. But a quantum computer would render the standard types of public-key cryptography useless. And for governments and other institutions that need to keep secrets for the long term, the real deadline is much sooner, because if encrypted data sent today get stored, then a future quantum computer could retroactively decrypt the messages.

Tell us a little about the panelists? And who attended the event?

The panelists were Eric Rescolra, a former CTO of Firefox and former Chief Technologist at the Center for Forecasting and Outbreak Analytics, Dr. Zaira Nazario, quantum theorist and Director of Science and Technology at the Office of the Director at IBM Research, and Nima Leclerc, research scientist at the MITRE Corporation. The event was attended by a bipartisan group of policymakers from Congress, federal agencies, and academia.

What were the key takeaways?

Panelists discussed why public key cryptography is vulnerable to quantum, how many years are left until it can be broken, the potential implications of AI on quantum technology, and what governments and private organizations should be doing now to protect themselves. The panelists suggested areas that Congress could take action, including in federal funding, workforce development, and securing the hardware supply chain.

The panelists suggested areas that Congress could take action, including in federal funding, workforce development, and securing the hardware supply chain. 
Laura Patton, Head of Government Affairs, US, Springer Nature 

Why is it so important in general that knowledge and insights generated by research reaches policymakers?

When it comes to the newest scientific discoveries, we need to connect conversations about the “what and how” with the “why and why not”.  Researchers and policymakers often stay in their own silos, and have their own, separate modes of communication, and now more than ever conversation between the two is vital to address the world's challenges.

Science on the Hill events have been going strong for 9 years already now. Tell me a little about the concept in general.

We know that researchers want their research to have an impact, of course within the research community but also in addressing the global challenges we all face. In a Springer Nature survey a few years ago, 68% of authors Springer Nature surveyed - especially younger researchers - said that it is ‘extremely’ or ‘very’ important that research has societal impact beyond academia. We want to help them achieve this, and also to connect research with policymakers - policymakers who use the research to make decisions that impact communities here in the United States and around the world. At Springer Nature, our objective is to be a connection between the world of science and policy, and to make sure everyone benefits from the findings, knowledge, and insights that the research community generates, and Science on the Hill is a great way to achieve that goal.

Find out more, read related content and watch the recording of Science on The Hill 2025 ‘Planning for a post quantum future’

Laura Patton - Head of Government Affairs, US.

Laura works to disseminate and promote research from Springer Nature publications to a Congressional audience and other key policymakers, as well as build understanding of the scholarly publishing ecosystem. Before joining Springer Nature in 2022, she worked in congressional relations at the RAND Corporation. Laura started her career in Congress where she served as an aide to Representative David Obey, Chair of the House Appropriations Committee. She has an M.A. from Johns Hopkins University.

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