U.S. Department of Defense Awards $2.8M to Purdue University Scientists for Quantum Education Program

(Physics.Purdue) The U.S. Department of Defense is awarding $2.8 million to a collaborative group of Purdue University professors in order to develop a quantum education program at Purdue. This grant is supported by the National Defense Education Program (NDEP) for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Education, Outreach, and Workforce Initiative Programs.
Professors involved in this grant are Mahdi Hosseini, Assistant Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Courtesy in Physics; Muhsin Menekse, Associate Professor of Engineering Education and Science Education; and Erica Carlson, 150th Anniversary Professor of Physics and Astronomy. Purdue University is the primary recipient of the grant and the work will be done in collaboration with Microsoft Azure Quantum and Guided Particle Systems Inc. Other industry collaborators include IonQ, Entanglement Institute and Quantum Computing Inc.
This funding will be used to develop the Innovation in Quantum Pedagogy, Application and its Relation to Culture (IQ-PARC) project. This collaborative effort has a mission to flourish a community of intellectual engineers and scientists by providing the necessary curriculum and resources to advance quantum machines and systems education and research, leveraging peer learning templates, interactive environments and communities, multi-disciplinary networking, and other dynamic and fun teaching/learning approaches. They will work with companies like Microsoft that are leaders in the quantum space to develop state-of-the-art virtual and physical layers of future quantum systems, as part of making IQ-PARC’s goal a reality.
IQ-PARC seeks to address the gap in quantum education and workforce development. It will not only develop educational materials accessible to learners with different backgrounds and levels but also provide free access to a diverse set of quantum hardware for learners to interact with through Azure Quantum. They will achieve this goal by collaborating with industry forerunners in quantum technology including Microsoft and IonQ.