Co-PIs Dr. Michael Strickland (Professor and Chair, Physics), Dr. Qiang Guan (Assistant Professor, Computer Science), and Dr. Barry Dunietz (Associate Professor, Chemistry) have received a $500k grant from the National Science Foundation to develop a quantum computing (QC) training program at Kent State University. The grant addresses a critical need in the US to develop a skilled workforce in quantum computing. With the funding, Drs. Strickland, Guan, and Dunietz will construct a project-oriented training program to assist scientists and students in the development of quantum computing with configuration interactions (CI) and foster broad adoption of QC-CI to advance fundamental research.
The proposed training program is aimed at students and early-stage researchers, e.g., undergraduates, graduate students, and postdocs interested in quantum computing systems, quantum applications, cyber-physical systems, quantum physics, quantum chemistry, and quantum machine learning. A long-term collaboration with collaborators at various DOE national laboratories will be built to ensure the broad adoption of QC-CI by the research community.
The cyber training program developed by Drs. Strickland, Guan, and Dunietz will catalyze major research advances and train professional CI contributors to optimize the existing quantum computing hardware and software stacks. The Kent State University training program aims to accommodate 80+ trainees who will participate in cutting edge research projects each year. These programs will assist adopters and users in understanding how to use QC-CI and allow them to perform advanced research in Computer and Information Science, Engineering, and the Mathematical & Physical Sciences.