CorroZoom webinar 23.6.2026 Opportunities for Quantum Computing in Corrosion Science

The next CorroZoom webinar will be on 23 June and will be given by Dr. Kristen Williams from Boeing Corporation. The talk is entitled “Opportunities for Quantum Computing in Corrosion Science.” The power of quantum computing allows for modeling at the electron level, which is required for accurate first-principles corrosion rate prediction. Please register here.

Opportunities for Quantum Computing in Corrosion Science

Kristen Williams, Boeing Corp.

Abstract
Modeling corrosion reactions at the atomistic length scale requires ‘first principles’ calculations to extract thermodynamic and kinetic properties of different reaction pathways. These calculations can then be used to characterize the fundamental corrosion processes happening at a material-environment interface. First principles approaches are especially useful in material design and selection because corrosion processes (e.g., metal dissolution) often involve highly-correlated electronic states. Despite their usefulness, however, first principles approaches have a major limitation related to computational scaling. These methods require solving the many-electron time-independent Schrödinger equation, an eigenvalue problem that describes the electronic structure (energies and eigenstates) of a many-body fermionic system. Even with supercomputing resources, first principles calculations for systems with more than a few electrons are computationally prohibitive. To address this, many researchers use approximate methods such as Density Functional Theory (DFT). DFT has been used extensively to study corrosion mechanisms, but DFT has known limitations for predicting accurate kinetics. It has recently been proposed that quantum algorithms can compute more accurate chemical kinetics for larger-scale models. Quantum algorithms are designed to run on quantum computers, novel computing architectures that take advantage of the unique properties of superposition and entanglement to carry out complex calculations that are not feasible on traditional processers. The application of quantum algorithms to the study of chemical reactions is a new and exciting area of research. This presentation will provide an introduction to quantum computing in a way that connects to the fundamentals of corrosion science and engineering. This presentation will also review some preliminary studies of corrosion reactions using quantum computers and will outline opportunities for further research.

Bio
Dr. Kristen S. Williams (Kris) is an Associate Technical Fellow and Boeing Designated Expert in Corrosion. She is a member of the Boeing Quantum Computing Applications Team and recently led the Boeing Applied Math Computational Methods group. Prior to that, she served as a Technical Lead Engineer in the Space Launch System Materials & Processes Design Team, Senior Engineer and Principal Investigator for multiple research projects. Before joining Boeing, she worked as a Postdoctoral Researcher at the U.S. Army Research Laboratory in Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD. Kris earned a Ph.D. in Materials Science & Engineering from Texas A&M University and a B.S. in Chemistry, with minors in Physics and Mathematics, from Jacksonville State University. Kris is a member of the Association for Materials Protection and Performance (AMPP) and has served on the AMPP Research Committee. She has published over thirty peer-reviewed journal articles, conference proceedings, and patents related to computational materials modeling, corrosion, surface science, and polymeric materials. Outside of work, she enjoys traveling, watching college football, and training her two Australian shepherds.