Supporting Minority Serving Institutions in the Creation of a Diverse, Quantum-Ready Workforce

Non-technical

The 2018 National Quantum Initiative Act recognized the importance of strategic, federally coordinated support for quantum information sciences and engineering (QISE) research to maintain economic competitiveness, sustain national security, and fuel transformative scientific advancement. This immediately accelerated the pace of an already rapidly advancing field and, consequently, surged the demands for trained quantum engineers.

To satisfy these workforce needs and remain globally competitive, the U.S. must train an increasing number of quantum engineers and scientists. This requires reaching beyond the existing pipelines and providing equal resources to a broader range of communities. Success relies on recognizing the critical role and understanding the barriers faced by Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs), which train a disproportionately large number of underrepresented students who earn bachelor's degrees in STEM fields.

To this end, a series of workshops entitled Supporting Minority Serving Institutions in the Creation of a Diverse, Quantum-Ready Workforce have been designed to prescribe a strategy to help broaden participation in QISE. Topics include identifying quantum workforce needs, protocols to gain access to nationwide facilities offering specialized equipment for quantum research, development of specialized quantum courses and academic programs, and opportunities to develop strategic partnerships with industry.

Technical

This workshop series is designed to facilitate quantum information science and engineering (QISE) research and educational programs at Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs). The series consists of two two-day workshops, which are scheduled for October 2021 (virtual, hosted by the Colorado School of Mines) and February 2022 (hosted in San Juan, PR by the University of Puerto Rico Mayaguez).

Engaging ~80 QISE researchers from universities, industry, and national labs nationwide, the goal of these events is to cultivate innovative ideas for bolstering MSI participation and success in QISE through a combination of invited talks and guided breakout group discussion sessions. This is achieved by first identifying strengths and obstacles faced by MSIs that hinder their participation in QISE as well as mechanisms to boost the number of quantum scientists from underrepresented groups by means of raising the research competitiveness of MSIs.

To this end, activities also include advertising specialized resources: proposal-writing training opportunities, quantum computing facilities, and nationwide user facilities for growth, fabrication, and measurement of quantum devices. The first workshop provides seed funding to select groups who present competitive, innovative plans to achieve these goals; these groups subsequently report on their progress during the second meeting.

Outcomes include implementation of several new initiatives and a whitepaper summarizing the unearthed barriers and prescribing novel activities to fuel sustained increases in the participation of underrepresented minorities in QISE.

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.