Women in Quantum: Saasha Joshi

By Ana Ciocoiu

March 13, 2025

At the Quantum Algorithms Institute, we recognize that diverse perspectives drive innovation in quantum technology. As part of our Women in Quantum series, we highlight the careers, challenges, and aspirations of women working in this evolving field.

In this feature, Saasha Joshi shares her path from a chance encounter with quantum computing to her role as a Staff Scientist in Quantum Computing at CMC Microsystems. With a background in quantum software development and machine learning, Saasha is passionate about open-source collaboration, education, and responsible innovation.

Saasha Joshi is a Staff Scientist in Quantum Computing at CMC Microsystems, Canada. She holds a Master of Science degree in Computer Science with a focus on Quantum Computing from the University of Victoria, and a Bachelor of Engineering in Computer Science Engineering from Panjab University, Chandigarh, India. Saasha is an NSERC CREATE Quantum BC graduate and an IBM Qiskit Advocate.

She is actively involved in open-source development and is passionate about educating through youth workshops on topics like Machine Learning and Quantum Computing. She previously interned at IBM Quantum and continues to explore research in Quantum Machine Learning and quantum software development.

What got you interested in quantum technology initially?

I would say it was a really random thing. It was during the first COVID summer and I didn’t have many classes going on, so I was looking for ways to fill up my free time. Coincidentally, this is also when IBM’s Qiskit summer school started. A friend of mine called me up and invited me to join him. India was under total lockdown at the time so I had no distractions and was able to completely immerse myself in the program. I found that it had a mix of everything I was really interested in- physics, math, and computer science. Since the beginning I've found the quantum community to be very helpful - you could ping anyone on slack and they would be more than happy to chat or work through a problem with you. This wasn’t something I experienced in the AI or machine learning community previously so it kept me really motivated and engaged.

Growing up, what were your perceptions of a job in the STEM field and of the people in it?

The jobs in India are a lot more focused on front-end and DevOps roles, so I wasn’t aware that I could do any sort of R&D work in a field like quantum computing full-time and get paid well for it. This is something I discovered only after coming to Canada and starting my research career.

How would you characterize the quantum ecosystem in India?

I regularly connect with my friends in India and their careers are progressing nicely. The government of India is investing significantly in quantum computing at the moment, and there are several institutions where quality research is being carried out. I do think there is an opportunity to advance the research from more fundamental fronts to quantum software and applications development, especially since India has a great background in software development and engineering.

What has been your favorite project or research experience so far?

My Master’s thesis, honestly. It’s kind of an unpopular answer but it’s true. My supervisors gave me a lot of freedom in choosing my research topics so I had a really fun time. I made this library named piQture, which prototypes quantum machine learning algorithms for image processing. I’ve always been interested in machine learning and image processing, so my thesis gave me a good platform to explore quantum alongside two subjects that I really like.

Did you feel you had adequate mentorship and support on your learning and professional journey?

I did. I had a really good collaborative relationship with my supervisors and enjoyed the independence they gave me to pursue the topics and ideas that interested me the most. I did feel that at some point in my graduate degree, especially when I was exploring new topics, I would really have loved to interact with a subject matter expert instead of just pushing through on my own.

I was also part of the NSERC CREATE program and had several industry internships where I was really able to connect with people working in the field and build some lasting relationships.

Who is a woman that inspires you, and why?

I tend to collect bits and pieces from everyone, so there’s a lot of women that have shaped me. First and foremost I would probably mention my supervisor, Ulrike, who has been very supportive and perceptive. She noticed a lot of little things most people would miss, like my aptitude for self-directed learning, and knew how to find projects for me that played to my strengths. So that’s inspired me to develop this quality in myself because it’s really important to read between the lines and understand how people work best and what motivates them. It leads to more successful collaborations and relationships.

During my internship, I was mentored by Olivia Lanes from IBM, and what I really liked about her is that she has a very straightforward approach to things. Initially, I was a bit taken aback by her communication style but I grew to appreciate her no-nonsense attitude and found that I would seek out her advice more than anyone else’s. She has influenced the way I communicate with people and taught me to be confident in expressing my opinions, especially as a woman.

What is a challenge you have faced that you are especially proud of overcoming?

Having spent a large part of my professional journey in academia, gaining industry experience was something totally new to me. When I interned at IBM, it was my first time living in North America and interacting with people from very diverse backgrounds on a daily basis.  I realized that every culture has their own way of communicating and of responding to challenges. I noticed different communication styles between North America and my home country, where people tend to be more direct and less formal, which was initially an adjustment for me. I felt like I was initially communicating awkwardly or not expressing myself in a way that meshed with North American culture. I would have loved some guidance not only on how to transition from academia to industry, but on how to bridge cultural boundaries as well. But overall I ended up having a great time; people here are so friendly and sweet!

Dreams/aspirations: what would you like to accomplish in the future?

For now, my goals are to continue getting industry experience, but I’m really open to seeing where life takes me. I could see myself further exploring quantum computing as part of a PhD program, but am equally interested in exploring people-facing roles such as project management. I’m still trying to figure out what’s next for me after having taken the first step of completing my Master’s degree!

How do you think quantum technology can impact the lives of people in your community (either for better or worse) ?

In Canada, there are a lot of initiatives focused on quantum computing education and preparing people for work in the quantum sector. India has started to take significant steps in this area, especially with its quantum roadmap and increased government investment in the quantum sector. When I was in India, I felt that research in quantum computing was limited to some universities only. However, I now see an evolving ecosystem with more accessible ways for Indian students to learn, both in the form of formal education and industry-led programs.

In Canada I’ve been able to have so many mentors through my internships or the NSERC CREATE program but I'm seeing more Indian students gaining similar opportunities as the field continues to grow. So I would say that quantum computing has tremendous potential to impact the lives of people around the globe and we need to find suitable approaches to target the diverse population of interested students globally. There’s no lack of talent in India and people are very hard workers! If we truly want quantum computing to have a global impact, we need to be able to engage with people of different cultures, languages, and beliefs and give them an equal opportunity to make a contribution to the field.

We can see from AI and facial recognition technologies the consequences of considering responsible development only after the technology has hit the market. As the global conversation around quantum computing develops, the concept of responsible innovation has emerged. RI aims to foster a culture of engagement between the quantum computing community society, so that we experience not only the benefits of quantum computing research  but also good governance, transparency, and accountability. Do you feel quantum computing is developing responsibly? Why/why not?

As someone who works in quantum machine learning, I see a lot of online educational resources that thoughtlessly promote machine learning, particularly in areas like image recognition, that can have ethically complex use cases and concerns over privacy and bias without acknowledging it. The opposite of image recognition is image perturbation, where aspects of an image can be hidden- and yet many people don’t consider those use cases for educating people on ML! There are a lot of people out there who may go on to work on technologies that are inherently harmful because they’ve never been prompted to actively think about the ethical implications of what they’re developing.

An initiative to educate people and prompt discussions on the duality of emerging technologies is missing. I’m hoping we can learn from the mistakes that were made in the AI/ML community and start having these discussions earlier with quantum.

Development of quantum technology has thus far been concentrated in well-funded research labs and a subset of companies that exist mostly in the ‘global north’ due to the level of infrastructural development needed and the existing research environments. Going forward, who would you like to see included in the development and deployment of quantum technology?

Everyone! Nobody should be left behind. But that’s an idealistic goal - pragmatically it’s always a question of funding and resources, as well as how those resources can be best distributed. There have been some great initiatives - for example, the decision to allow cloud access to quantum devices is a step in the right direction. Many companies worldwide now rely on these services. However, a single company or country shouldn’t have to meet global demand. If other countries and upcoming companies were able to secure funding to develop their own infrastructure, we could not only have more computing resources but also healthy competition and collaboration.

On the other hand, I notice that many countries are prohibited from accessing these cloud resources due to sanctions. Every time I use a resource, I feel compelled to read the fine print to see if people from other areas can access those resources. I feel the list of restrictions keeps growing by the year. I feel like we’re heading in the wrong direction. Quantum computing will impact everyone, and everyone should have a seat at the table. Projects like the International Space Station are proof that international collaboration is possible even amid political tensions.

Given the current trajectory of development, it is a possibility that global division emerges as only a few countries have access to quantum computing. Areas without access are left behind as those that have access take advantage of this technology. Given existing digital divides, this scenario may worsen global inequality. What does responsible quantum innovation look like to you?

There are so many talented people in places that may not have the budget to invest heavily in quantum technologies. I think countries should band together on joint research initiatives that allow people to work on quantum computing problems from anywhere in the world. Keeping access to cloud resources open and affordable is also key to this, which is why we need to have greater diversity in these service providers.

For example, Canadian universities provide GPU clusters to their students, allowing them to access far more computing power than they can purchase independently. I think we should create a global access quantum computing cluster so that anyone, anywhere, can have access to this technology.

Quantum technology can be leveraged in positive ways that benefit humanity (eg, drug discovery) but it can also be leveraged in ways that make the world far worse, such as exacerbating geopolitical tensions and opportunity divides.Developing quantum technology in a responsible way is clearly going to be challenging. Are you overall optimistic or pessimistic about the way we will choose to develop this technology?

The Indian population went from accepting 2G to 4G, with less widespread adoption of 3G due to a rapid internet boom within a short term. So I don’t think technological development always has to be slow and sequential. Regions that are developing or are yet to start the development of quantum computing technology have the potential to experience their own technology boom and match or even outperform what is happening in the west. Those entering the field later can benefit from the foundations already in place, and skip a lot of the growing pains that other countries may have had. So yes, I’m optimistic, because current trends may not be good indicators of future success.

What dreams/ aspirations do you have for the future of quantum computing?

I would like to see more inclusion in the field of quantum computing and I’m hoping to work towards that. Since writing a few LinkedIn posts and a blog on QML, I’ve had tons of people reach out to me asking for resources and I always make sure I answer every message to the best of my ability. Sometimes I’m told that I’m the only person who responded to them. This means a lot to me, because there’s no shortage of people reaching out for help but there is a shortage of people willing to give some time out of their schedule to be a friendly and welcoming source of knowledge.

Another thing I’m hoping to see is more support for quantum computing content in diverse languages. People sometimes tell me I’m hilarious in Hindi but not so much in English, and I think that kind of summarizes the experience of someone trying to learn quantum computing from, let's say, English-only resources when that isn’t their first language. Lots of nuances and context are lost in the process, and this is really detrimental to learning and retaining new information.

Saasha Joshi’s journey highlights the evolving landscape of quantum computing, where curiosity, collaboration, and education play key roles in shaping the field. As quantum technology advances, fostering accessibility, ethical awareness, and global participation will be crucial to its responsible development. By continuing to share knowledge and engage with diverse communities, Saasha and others in the field are helping to build a future where quantum computing can reach its full potential—impacting industries and individuals worldwide. Stay tuned to the QAI blog for more profiles of women in quantum.