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_fellows/2025/dbontr.md

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+---
+layout: fellow
+pagetype: fellow
+shortname: dbontr
+permalink: /fellows/dbontr.html
+fellow-name: Devon Bontrager
+title: Devon Bontrager - IRIS-HEP Fellow
+active: True
+dates:
+  start: 2025-05-19
+  end: 2025-08-25
+photo: /assets/images/team/fellows-2025/Devon-Bontrager.jpg
+institution: University of Kansas
+e-mail: [email protected]
+focus-area:
+challenge-area:
+project_title: Cooperative Track Building with Heuristic and Quantum Acceleration
+project_goal: >
+  This project aims to explore novel ways to improve track reconstruction performance for the HL-LHC through three innovations: (1) cooperative track building where parallel hypotheses share quality metrics and prune weaker candidates; (2) adaptation of underexplored heuristic methods including Ant Colony Optimization, Particle Swarm Optimization, Simulated Annealing, Genetic Algorithms, best-first A*/Hungarian matching; and (3) a quantum-parallel proof of concept using QUBO-based seed selection on quantum devices. The unified Python framework developed during the project will benchmark trade-offs in speed, accuracy, and resource consumption, and highlight the potential of hybrid classical–quantum pipelines for real-time, high-accuracy tracking in high-pileup environments.
+mentors:
+  - Dr. Liv Vage
+proposal: /assets/pdf/fellows-2025/USA019-proposal-Devon-Bontrager.pdf
+presentations:
+  - title:
+    date:
+    url:
+    meeting:
+    meetingurl:
+    recordingurl:
+    focus-area:
+current_status: >
+    A placeholder for status updates
+github-username: dbontr
+linkedin-profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/devon-bontrager/
+---