NRT-QL: Quantum Cross-platform Advanced Training for Future Innovators

About This Grant

There is a growing need to educate more students in quantum science—an exciting and rapidly advancing field that underpins many modern technologies, including semiconductor chips and medical imaging tools like MRI. Currently, quantum science is primarily taught within physics and chemistry departments, and existing courses and training approaches often fall short in supporting the interdisciplinary collaboration needed to solve the field’s most pressing questions. This National Science Foundation Research Traineeship (NRT) award at University of Texas at Austin brings together faculty from the Cockrell School of Engineering and the College of Natural Science to design new courses and hands-on learning experiences to prepare graduate students from diverse academic backgrounds for the quantum workforce of the future. The University of Texas at Austin—recognized for its strong science and technology ecosystem—offers an ideal environment for this initiative. Austin’s expanding high-tech industry and the recently established Texas Quantum Institute will provide students with meaningful connections to real-world applications and opportunities in quantum research and the broader STEM workforce. NRT trainees will gain valuable skills through research, teamwork, mentorship, career development, and community engagement. Approximately 100 graduate students will participate in this program and 16 funded graduate trainees from several departments, including electrical engineering, computer science, mechanical engineering, and physics, will be served. This project will prepare participating students for careers in the growing quantum technology sector. Trainees will also participate in public outreach activities at nearby high schools and community colleges, reaching an additional 300-500 individuals. Led by faculty from electrical engineering, computer science, mechanical engineering, and physics, this NRT research program is built around four interlinked research themes: foundational studies of qubits; quantum transduction through photonic and acoustic integration; quantum algorithm development; and applied research in quantum networking, communication, sensing, and simulation. These projects hold great promise towards scalable technologies in quantum networks, quantum sensors, and quantum algorithms. The project is laterally integrated across quantum platforms and vertically integrated across colleges, departments, and researchers. Trainees will engage in collaborative research projects that bring together different fields and encourage innovative thinking across disciplines while being mentored by a multidisciplinary faculty committee. The project will create five new quantum science and technology (QST) courses that include hands-on learning to provide foundational training for students from a wide range of academic backgrounds. The project will also build a well-rounded training experience that combines QST courses, interdisciplinary research, skill-building workshops, mentoring, internships, and public engagement activities. Trainees will receive grounding in perspectives from industry and entrepreneurship to help prepare them for broad career outcomes. Additional graduate and undergraduate students will be encouraged to join QST classes, attend seminars, and participate in research efforts. One outcome of the project is institutionalization of a graduate certificate in QST to help prepare a skilled workforce in quantum science beyond the life of the grant. 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.