Responding to Workforce Needs, U of Wisconson-Madison Introduces First MS in Physics & Quantum Computing

(GreenCarCongress) The University of Wisconsin–Madison has introduced a Master of Science in Physics – Quantum Computing (MSPQC), the first program of its kind in the US. Most of the students will complete their degrees in August 2020, and they will be primed to enter the rapidly growing field of quantum computing.
The new program grew out of a recognized workforce need, says Bob Joynt, professor of physics at UW–Madison and director of the MSPQC program. “We started graduating PhDs in the area of quantum computing maybe 10 to 15 years ago and they did fine, they found jobs. But then a few years ago, we started noticing that these graduates were in much more demand than our other graduates. Sometimes there were bidding wars, and that had never really happened before.”