Yes, I am using the song by Beach Boys as the title.
Surfin’ Quantum
Surfin’ USA is is a song by the American rock band the Beach Boys, credited to Chuck Berry and Brian Wilson. It is a rewritten version of Berry’s Sweet Little Sixteen.
I have previously fused Chuck Berry with Quantum Computing in Roll Over Turing.
Here SURF stands for Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship. This portion of the post is triggered by this email:
Dear Dr. Tayur,
I hope this message finds you well. I wanted to take a moment to express my sincere gratitude for your invaluable guidance and support throughout my summer internship applications earlier this year, as well as for your mentorship over the past two years.
Your advice has played a pivotal role in helping me develop my skills in quantum research, and I am deeply appreciative of your continued encouragement.
I’m excited to share that I have been accepted into the Quantum SURF program at Caltech this summer. I will be working under the mentorship of John Preskill, and I am eager to further hone my research skills while conducting independent work at a level akin to that of a PhD student.
For those not in physics:
John Phillip Preskill is an American theoretical physicist and the Richard P. Feynman Professor of Theoretical Physics at the California Institute of Technology, where he is also the director of the Institute for Quantum Information and Matter. His graduate adviser at Harvard was Steven Weinberg. He is known for coining the term “Quantum Supremacy” (in 2012) and was elected to National Academy of Science (NAS) in 2014.
As some of you know, I coined the term Quantum Serenity (in 2021, I think) as a parody of Quantum Supremacy. And, I am a huge fan of Richard Feynman (see The Tayur Musings in Physics and Surely You’re Joking!).
Isn’t it simply marvelous that a CS undergraduate (Arul Majumdar) working with a B-school OM professor at CMU can be selected into such a competitive program in quantum physics at Caltech to work with Preskill?
Now going to the other end of the academic spectrum from an undergraduate student, and to a time that is about 30 years ago, dealing with University Professors.
Geek Quartet
Here I am fusing Geek Squad with String Quartet as the name of our tennis doubles foursome.
Why?
Congratulations to Ravi Kannan (also a PhD from Cornell ORIE, who was on the faculty in the CS department here when I joined CMU) for his election to NAS (the announcement was made a few days back).
In early to mid 1990s, Ravi, Gerard Cornuejols (also Cornell ORIE PhD), Egon Balas (see “Please do not snap your fingers”) and I would play doubles tennis, Tuesday evenings, outdoors at CMU when weather was good and in a bubble during winters, and now with Ravi’s election to a National Academy this year, this means that all four of us have been elected to a National Academy!
2006. Egon Balas. 2016. Gerard Cornuejols. 2017. Sridhar Tayur. 2025. Ravindran Kannan.
Indeed, it was during one such tennis game that we discussed if Ravi’s research (CS Theory) and mine (OM Modeling and Analysis) could have an overlap. Yes! Here is our paper (with his CS PhD student John Mount), published in 1995, in Mathematics of Operations Research:
A Randomized Algorithm for Optimizing over Certain Convex Sets.
Enough of the geek talk.
Now to F1, in Miami. It is the 75th anniversary of F1, and the main race, on Sunday May 4 is exactly one year after the 150th running of the 2024 Kentucky Derby that I went to last year!
Miami Prix
Miami Vice is an American crime drama television series created by Anthony Yerkovich and produced by Michael Mann for NBC. Unlike standard police procedurals, the show drew heavily upon 1980s New Wave culture and is noted for its integration of contemporary pop and rock music, and stylish or stylized visuals. People magazine states that Miami Vice was the “first show to look really new and different since color TV was invented. Mann also directed a modernized film adaptation (with Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx), which was released in July 2006. In 2025, a new film adaptation directed by Joseph Kosinski and written by Dan Gilroy was announced.
As you know from True Grip, F1 Fairy Tale, Hamiltonian Path and Ford v Ferrari (and other posts), I like cars and racing, and this weekend I am in Miami (yes, staying at Four Seasons, adding to London, Paris, Bengaluru, of course Minneapolis, and looking forward to Prague later this summer) to watch F1.
I really want to see Max Verstappen drive – adding to me watching live Roger Federer, Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan, Mario Lemieux and Lionel Messi, among the greatest to have played their sport.
Thursday. Going into the weekend, McLaren appears to be the (rational) favorite as they have the best cars and both drivers are in form. But, there is Max! I would like to see a dramatic upset, a come from behind fairy tale, of the Hamilton-Ferrari man-machine fusion, or some entirely fresh name to startle us with a dazzling performance. Enjoyed meeting up with Davide Venturelli – discussed quantum DARPA program, the upcoming Ising conference, the strategic relationship between Four Seasons and The White Lotus – and strolled around to take in the Miami nightlife.
Friday. Enjoyed the Sprint Qualifying, especially with:
Mercedes wunderkind rookie Andrea Kimi Antonelli beat the McLaren drivers to pole position for the sprint race in Miami and in doing so became the youngest pole sitter in any Formula 1 format.
Antonelli, 18, beat championship leader Oscar Piastri by 0.045 seconds to top a competitive F1 session for the first time in his young career.
Antonelli replaced seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes this year and has already been tipped for great things.
Saturday. Oh, that was short-lived! Within the first few seconds of the Sprint Race (after a rain delay that forced a Standing Start), at the first turn, Antonelli lost his position – dropped down to fourth – and:
Lando Norris emerged as the winner in a dramatic Sprint at the Miami Grand Prix, with the Briton making a perfectly timed pit stop during a late Safety Car period to hold the lead to the end ahead of McLaren team mate Oscar Piastri.
But there was further drama! The torrential rain hit the Miami International Autodrome, leading to Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) suffering a premature exit from the Sprint when he slid into the walls en route to the grid, putting him out of the event before it had even begun.
Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) – who had been struggling for grip out on track – switched to slicks by bolting on the softs – and, yes, came in third, behind the two McLarens. So:
McLaren. McLaren. Ferrari.
Now to the Qualifying Race. Yup, Max – “Congrats to Max, especially being a dad now. I was hoping it would slow him down!” – Verstappen! But, not before some great competition (Hamilton is P12, ouch):
Verstappen was 0.065 seconds faster than Norris. Andrea Kimi Antonelli secured third place for Mercedes, 0.002 seconds behind Norris.
Sunday. Heading off to the races now! Still hoping for a Ferrari comeback! But above all, looking for drama, and milli-second differences that may decide outcomes. There is, of course, a chance of (Miami) thunderstorms, that too around race time, and so, yes, I have a poncho (no umbrellas allowed today).
PS. And, super thanks to Tim Derdenger for so-quickly sending this Video along of his son playing the piano! Perfect accompaniment to the post, not just because of the F1 Theme, but because this is a father-son weekend to celebrate my elder son’s upcoming graduation and birthday.
And, yes, Joseph Kosinski also directed Top Gun: Maverick (see Top Fun) and the upcoming F1:
