NRT-QL: Accelerating Quantum-Enabled Technologies

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NRT: Accelerating Quantum-Enabled Technologies (AQET)Fundamentally secure communication, the design and synthesis of new materials, and sensing with single atoms are all technologies that will be accelerated with the understanding and control of quantum mechanical phenomena. In these early days of quantum technology development, hardware knowledge is essential for software engineers to optimize architectures, efficiently implement algorithms, and correct errors. The breakthroughs needed in the materials for scalable quantum devices requires materials and device scientists and computer architecture engineers to be trained in quantum information. This National Science Foundation Research Traineeship award to the University of Washington (UW) will address these needs by training master’s and doctoral students in an interdisciplinary program in quantum information science and technology (QIST). The traineeship anticipates providing training to one hundred and ninety (190) students including twenty-two (22) funded trainees, by combining disciplines in quantum information (chemistry, physics, applied mathematics, materials science & engineering, electrical and computer engineering, and computer science), interactions with national laboratories and industry partners, project-based learning on commercially available cloud quantum computers, and hands-on research in QIST. There is a growing national need for US quantum scientists to meet the current workforce demands from US national laboratories and industries (including startups and established companies). This need will be met by (1) increasing UW graduate students’ QIST knowledge and skills, (2) increasing the participation of women in QIST by effectively implementing targeted recruitment and retention strategies and introduction of QIST concepts into UW’s undergraduate curricula, and (3) developing publicly available educational materials from our most innovative courses. At the core of the traineeship program is the “learn, practice, apply” approach with a heavy emphasis on project-based learning. The 15-month training program begins with one of three domain-specific courses that provides not only a foundation in QIST concepts but are also co-designed to provide a common technical vocabulary across disciplines. The foundational course is followed by an interdisciplinary project-based course that will utilize classical computer simulations of quantum devices as well as experiments on real quantum devices, provided by industry partners. These resources will help teach essential concepts in quantum information implementations while solidifying student’s theoretical understanding of QIST. An advanced-topics course and interdisciplinary team capstone project designed to apply the newly acquired skills to real-world applications complete the curriculum. The project-based learning curriculum also provides the opportunity to practice and improve leadership, management, team and communication skills through the program’s professional development workshops. Successful completion of the program results in a transcriptable option in QIST for both MS and PhD students. The NSF Research Traineeship (NRT) Program is designed to encourage the development and implementation of bold, new potentially transformative models for STEM graduate education training. The program is dedicated to effective training of STEM graduate students in high priority interdisciplinary or convergent research areas through comprehensive traineeship models that are innovative, evidence-based, and aligned with changing workforce and research needs.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.