About me

Quantum models for dynamic data, built with a physicist’s perspective

I am a PhD candidate in Quantum Machine Learning for Data Streams, conducting a joint PhD between the University of Waikato in New Zealand and École Polytechnique / Institut Polytechnique de Paris in France. My research is supervised by Prof. Albert Bifet and Prof. Bernhard Pfahringer.

Portrait of Léa Cassé

My work lies at the intersection of quantum information, machine learning, and dynamic data. I study how shallow variational circuits can represent and learn temporal structure, with a particular focus on Quantum Re-Uploading Units (QRUs), spectral/Fourier diagnostics, trainability, and deployment under NISQ constraints.

Research focus

Three directions within one PhD programme

01

QRU applications

Particle identification, time-series forecasting, flood-risk prediction, and compact quantum models for data streams.

02

QRU theory

Frequency structure, expressivity, gradients, parameter sharing, and the relationship between circuit architecture and target spectra.

03

Forecast-to-decision pipelines

Coupling quantum forecasting with risk scoring, CVaR objectives, QUBO formulations, and QAOA-based optimisation.

Applied AI/ML work

Research-grade engineering beyond the model

I also work as a freelance AI/ML consultant. My applied work includes governed data contracts, forecasting evaluation, provenance and audit logic, explainability hooks, human-in-the-loop review, and reproducible Python/FastAPI-style prototypes. I also collaborate on explainable AI for cross-day EMG gesture classification, with an emphasis on separating physiologically meaningful signal regions from unstable artefacts.

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Background

From fundamental physics to quantum machine learning

Before starting my PhD, I studied fundamental and quantum physics in Toulouse and Montpellier. My earlier research experience includes NV centres in diamond, Bell inequalities, quantum chaos, and quantum-computing projects.

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Academic and professional profiles