NRT: Accelerating Transdisciplinary Training of an Oklahoma Workforce for the Artificial Intelligence and Quantum Revolution

About This Grant

Quantum technology and artificial intelligence (AI) are transforming how we live, work, and communicate. From self-driving cars and medical diagnostics to secure communication and powerful new computers, AI and quantum technologies are reshaping industries and creating new opportunities. These technologies have led to tremendous growth in several sectors, with private and public investment in these areas exceeding $250B in 2024 and expected to exceed $500B in 2025. However, this rapid pace of innovation and growth has outstripped the supply of skilled professionals. This National Science Foundation Research Traineeship (NRT) award to Oklahoma State University (OSU) will address this demand by training graduate master’s and doctoral students in the interdisciplinary fields of AI and quantum technology. This will create a vibrant community of researchers and communicators who will tackle challenges at the frontier of discovery and design. The project anticipates training more than 100 graduate students, with 30 students on full stipends (annual salary and paid summer internships) and an additional 70 students engaging with several dimensions of the program’s training cycle. The program will draw students from the OSU Ph.D. and M.S. programs in Physics, Computer Science, Mathematics, Materials Science, Engineering, and Photonics. The OSU NRT Program will address critical gaps in STEM graduate education by restructuring and refocusing graduate education to increase breadth of interdisciplinary knowledge, implementing internships, developing needed professional skills, and maintaining depth of specialization with no change in time-to-degree. The trainees will actively engage in experiential learning via project-based research and internships with industrial partners and at national laboratories, organized to align with important questions in three integrated research focus areas: artificial intelligence, quantum information science, and functional materials. These areas align with the existing strengths of core participants and across departments at OSU. In addition to transdisciplinary coursework in quantum technologies and AI, trainees will benefit from a team practicum and group rotations, engage in annual skills workshops, attend an Expert Visitor seminar series, work with industrial partners and national laboratories as part of internships, and gain leadership experience as part of shared governance and peer mentoring. By reimagining graduate education, this program will produce a new generation of scientists and engineers equipped to solve complex problems and lead in emerging technology sectors. The NSF Research Traineeship (NRT) Program is designed to encourage the development and implementation of bold, new, and 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.