On July 1, 2012, the Director of the Beijing Computational Science Research Center (CSRC), Prof. Hai-Qing Lin, and the Co-Director of the Hearne Institute for Theoretical Physics, Louisiana State University (LSU), Prof. Jonathan P. Dowling, signed a Cooperative Agreement for academic exchange and collaboration between the two institutions in Beijing. The focus area of cooperation is quantum optics (QO) and quantum information science (QIS).

The Hearne Institute for Theoretical Physics, Louisiana State University is funded by a donation of two endowed chairs by Horace Hearne Jr. and the State of Louisiana, as well as additional grants from a variety of national and international granting agencies. It currently has as co-directors Jonathan Dowling and Jorge Pullin. The institute hosts faculty, postdoctoral researchers, students as well as long- and short-term visitors, who conduct research on quantum technologies and on gravitational physics. The Hearne Institute also sponsors international workshops on quantum information theory, quantum technologies, relativity and quantum gravity.