NRT-QL: Interdisciplinary Graduate Program in Quantum Materials Science and Engineering

从青铜器时代的冶金技术到当今数字社会中半导体器件的发明，利用和设计材料的有用特性一直是人类进步历史上反复出现的主题。量子材料是一种量子力学效应对其有用特性至关重要的材料，它在这项技术进步中发挥了重要作用，而且还准备发挥更大的作用。例如，人们对量子计算机越来越感兴趣和兴奋，政府和行业也在为量子科学的研究和发展提供资金。这项授予耶鲁大学的国家科学基金会研究培训（NRT）奖将创建一个跨学科的量子材料博士课程，并为受训者在量子材料科学与工程领域的有影响力的职业生涯做好准备。此外，该计划将加强美国在量子科学领域的科学和技术队伍并使其多样化。本项目将培养应用物理、化学、计算机科学、机械工程与材料科学、物理等学科的博士研究生30名，其中资助博士生17名。该计划将通过教育、研究、工业和国家实验室暑期实习以及专业发展提供培训。学员将成为创造、使用和理解量子材料的专家，同时获得发展团队科学、科学交流、外展、教学和指导技能的第一手知识。本NRT项目的研究计划集中在三个相关主题上：(a)了解拓扑晶体纳米线在原子尺度上的生长过程，(b)基于纳米线的拓扑互连及其电子传输特性的创建和工程，以及(c)用于潜在量子比特存储的拓扑超导纳米线。跨学科和合作研究工作将汇集材料生长的实验努力，通过电子传输和表面显微镜表征，以及电子结构计算，机器学习和分子动力学模拟的计算工作。例如，对于主题(a)，第一性原理电子结构计算将提供有关可能材料配置的结构和能量数据，以训练机器学习模型以产生高质量的经典势能函数。这些可以用于材料生长过程的大规模和长时间分子动力学模拟；然后，在动力学中发现的关键结构构型将反馈给第一原理计算，以闭环方式重新校准和完善机器学习电位。培训的一个关键特点是一个新的旗舰课程，包含动手模块，允许受训者分析来自各种NRT项目相关研究实验室的数据，这将向受训者介绍量子材料科学与工程，NRT培训师和研究项目。美国国家科学基金会研究实习生（NRT）计划旨在鼓励开发和实施大胆的、具有潜在变革性的STEM研究生教育培训新模式。该项目致力于通过创新、循证、适应不断变化的劳动力和研究需求的综合培训模式，在高优先级跨学科或融合研究领域对STEM研究生进行有效培训。  该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Harnessing and engineering the useful properties of materials has been a recurrent theme in the history of human advancement from mastering metallurgy in the Bronze age to creation of semiconductor devices in today’s digital society. Quantum materials, which are materials where quantum mechanical effects are critical to their useful properties, have played an important part in this technological progress, but are poised to do so even more. For example, there is growing interest and excitement about quantum computers, as well as both government and industry funding of research and development in the quantum sciences. This National Science Foundation Research Traineeship (NRT) award to Yale University will create an interdisciplinary Ph.D. program on quantum materials and prepare trainees for impactful professional careers in the field of quantum materials science and engineering. Additionally, the program will strengthen and diversify the US scientific and technical workforce in the quantum sciences. This program will train 30 Ph.D. students, including 17 funded trainees, from the disciplines of Applied Physics, Chemistry, Computer Science, Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science, and Physics. The program will provide training through education, research, industry and national laboratory summer internships, and professional development. Trainees will become experts in creating, using, and understanding quantum materials, while gaining firsthand knowledge of developing skills in team science, science communication, outreach, teaching, and mentoring. The research plan of this NRT program focuses on three related themes: (a) understanding the growth processes of topological crystalline nanowires at the atomic scale, (b) creation and engineering of nanowire-based topological interconnects and their electron transport properties, and (c) topological superconducting nanowires for potential quantum bit storage. The interdisciplinary and collaborative research effort will bring together experimental efforts in materials growth, characterization via electron transport and surface microscopy, and computational work in electronic structure calculations, machine learning, and molecular dynamics simulations. For example, for theme (a), first-principles electronic structure calculations will provide structural and energetic data on likely materials configurations to train machine learning models to produce high quality classical potential energy functions. These can be used for large-scale and long-time molecular dynamics simulations of the material growth process; the key structural configurations found in the dynamics will then be fed back to the first principles calculations to recalibrate and refine the machine-learned potentials in a closed-loop manner. A key feature of the traineeship is a new flagship course, containing hands-on modules allowing trainees to analyze data from various NRT program-related research laboratories, that will introduce quantum materials science and engineering, the NRT trainers, and research projects to the trainees. 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.