Bulletin of the American Physical Society
APS March Meeting 2022
Volume 67, Number 3
Monday–Friday, March 14–18, 2022; Chicago
Session T27: Teaching Quantum At All LevelsEducation Focus Outreach Recordings Available Undergrad Friendly
|
Hide Abstracts |
Sponsoring Units: FEd DQI Chair: Susan Blessing, Florida State University Room: McCormick Place W-187C |
Thursday, March 17, 2022 11:30AM - 12:06PM |
T27.00001: IBM-HBCU Quantum Center: An industry-academic model for partnerships in quantum-aware workforce development Invited Speaker: Thomas A Searles The IBM-HBCU Quantum Center is a one-of-a-kind collaboration between a consortium of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and IBM seeking to address the lack of representation while building a diverse and aware workforce in quantum information science and engineering (QISE). Key pillars of the Center are: 1) building community , 2) strengthening relationships and 3) providing support undergraduate, graduate, and faculty research at HBCUs. Further, students and faculty are invited to participate in grant development workshops, a QISE-invited seminar series, hack-a-thon and other opportunities to build competencies in the growing field of QISE. Since its launch, the IBM-HBCU Quantum Center has engaged a community of over 400 students, faculty, and researchers and will continue to establish a research presence in QISE and increase opportunities for research and workforce development. |
Thursday, March 17, 2022 12:06PM - 12:42PM |
T27.00002: Pivoting the undergraduate quantum mechanics class to support training in quantum sensing Invited Speaker: James K Freericks While many universities and colleges are thinking of updating their curriculum to better support training in quantum information science to prepare students for the second quantum revolution, the efforts in providing a foundation for work in quantum sensing seems to be far less than those to help prepare students for quantum computing or quantum communication. There is a challenge with making the course accessible to a wide range of students (hence with a reduced set of math prerequisites), while also providing thorough discussions of quantum experiments from the second quantum revolution (manipulating, controlling, and measuring single quanta). At Georgetown University (and in collaboration with edX), we have developed a modernized quantum mechanics class for undergraduates (science majors and engineers) that achieves this goal. We employ a representation-independent formalism that reduces the mathematical load (and prerequisites) for the students and allows us to cover far more applications to experiment than are commonly done in conventional courses. The course focuses on the conceptual ideas of superposition, entanglement, and complementarity before moving into formalism development and applications. More than two dozen advanced experiments are discussed including advanced sensing experiments (such as interaction-free experiments and the laser interferometry gravitational wave observatory). The class is offered both as a flipped class and as a fully on-line class. Lectures and advanced visualizations are available on youtube and github, respectively. |
Thursday, March 17, 2022 12:42PM - 12:54PM |
T27.00003: Electronic DC-SQUID Emulator for Teaching Josephson Junction Technologies Josiah Cochran, Clemente S Guzman, Eric Stiers, Irinel Chiorescu The recent progress in quantum computing technology has led to a large demand in scientists, engineers, and computer programmers trained in quantum information science and engineering1. This has led to a need for the development of educational tools for training in quantum technologies. The most mature quantum technologies rely heavily on Josephson Junction circuits therefore an understanding of Josephson Junctions is crucial. We present a novel, low-cost design using readily available components for a circuit which emulates the properties of a DC-SQUID used for sensitive flux readout2. Sensitive flux readout is critical for electron spin based and superconducting quantum technologies while a DC-SQUID is a classic introductory circuit example utilizing Josephson Junctions. Originally designed as a research tool to develop a novel flux feedback readout3, this low cost and compact circuit makes a student friendly device for learning quantum technologies. |
Thursday, March 17, 2022 12:54PM - 1:06PM |
T27.00004: Teaching quantum concepts to high school students using targeted instruction aided by gameplay and game-based puzzles Kishor T Kapale, Spiros Michalakis, Ricardo Olenewa, Christopher Cantwell To engage high-school students with quantum physics, we have designed a multipart experience for classrooms nationwide. The full activity fits within a single class period and leverages quantum games, both physical and digital, as well as bespoke animations, to deliver an immersive experience for students. Each experience begins with a game we call Zeros and Ones, where students work together to fill in randomly chosen rows and columns of a 3-by-3 grid using even and odd numbers of 0s and 1s, respectively. The activity relies only on pen and paper to offer a quick example of a game whose classical winning probability decreases exponentially with every new round of play, priming students for the introduction of a quantum-based perfect winning strategy. The next part finds students engaged in a self-paced, story-driven introduction to quantum superposition via a set of puzzles developed within the game of Quantum Chess. The class comes full circle with a pair of videos that intuitively describe the perfect quantum strategy for Zeros and Ones, and offer a glimpse into exciting future applications of quantum computers. In this presentation, we will discuss the learning materials and the results obtained through the pilot runs of the activity in high-school classes around the nation. |
Thursday, March 17, 2022 1:06PM - 1:18PM |
T27.00005: Quantum Now: Minimalist Methods for Quantum Calculations and Experiential Learning, Mark R Pederson, Gustavo Bravo Flores, Peter Lasode, Garry Woodruff, Ruben R Rivera, Ourania Glezakou-Ebert, Vassiliki-Alexandra Glezakou, Christina Garcia As an addenda to the “physics first” paradigm for early-science education we describe a course-based computational learning protocol that allows high-school students, undergraduates, graduates, K-12 teachers and seasoned researchers to move from addition and multiplication to fixed-basis quantum calculation without exposure to calculus and with minimal trigonometry. This “quantum now” software seed is part of a UTEP-PNNL vision for availing affordable quantum methods and education for all ages everywhere and to expose students to quantum mechanics while they are still in High School. We describe the use of our PRETRAIN code, relying only upon addition, multiplication, conditional commands and iteration to invert and diagonalize matrices, and solve for the particle in a corrugated box, harmonic oscillators and the hydrogen atom. For the latter we compare fixed-basis minimization to the simulated-annealing-based non-linear optimization of the energy. The protocol is intended for all that want to see what’s under the quantum hood and provide basic quantum knowledge to high-school students interested in quantum careers. Efforts to release in python and excel are described. |
Thursday, March 17, 2022 1:18PM - 1:30PM |
T27.00006: QuSTEAM: A new curriculum development project in quantum information science and engineering Christopher D Porter, Zahra Atiq, Edward Fletcher, Andrew F Heckler, Melanie Cooper, David Delaine, Emily Dringenberg The severe human-resource shortage in all areas of quantum science, technology, engineering, and mathematics is projected to significantly slow the societal impact of the second quantum revolution. To address this need and accelerate the NSF Quantum Leap, a comparable leap in education strategy is required. QuSTEAM (Quantum Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics) is a revolutionary undergraduate curriculum that will provide a national educational model for the emerging field of quantum information sciences (QIS). The development of QuSTEAM relies on research-based educational best practices to provide a convergent and inclusive curriculum to a diverse community of future scientists and engineers, a curriculum that is modular and conducive to in-person, online, and hybrid delivery modalities. In this talk, we will present an outline of the work, which is still in early stages. We will describe emerging themes in training needs from the industry, as well as faculty and student priorities from various institutions types including research (R1) institutions, community colleges, minority-serving institutions, and others. Some overview of early modules will also be presented. |
Thursday, March 17, 2022 1:30PM - 1:42PM |
T27.00007: Virtual Reality Simulations for Magnetism and Solid-State Physics Education Joshua C Leaney, Jamileh B Beik Mohammadi Current education methods struggle to communicate the complex 3D arrangements in the field of solid-state physics and magnetism. A remedy for such a difficulty is to create an interactive workspace by creating a learning module within Virtual Reality (VR). VR can assist the community of educators in their delivery of course content with meaningful purpose. It is proposed that individuals who utilize such systems will have a superior experience [1] and greater retention than individuals who do not utilize the VR. Moreover, the game-like environment of VR allows for it to reach a broader audience, non-exclusive to college students to enhance STEM education. |
Thursday, March 17, 2022 1:42PM - 1:54PM |
T27.00008: Building a Quantum Pipeline Jessica Rosenberg, Nancy Holincheck, Patrick M Vora The ability to manipulate quantum states has the potential to completely alter the nature of our society and our economy, as has the growth of today's computer technologies. However, jobs associated with these new technologies will require the preparation of a diverse workforce trained to take on these new challenges. We have been working to build programs spanning the secondary, undergraduate, and graduate curriculum. We will describe our efforts to understand what students across the STEM disciplines know about quantum and the opportunities it presents as well as what barriers they see in pursuing a career in this area. We will connect the perception of students with the needs as expressed by members of the industry interested in hiring those workers. Only by addressing student perspectives and employer needs will we be able to create inclusive programs to build the quantum workforce of the future. |
Thursday, March 17, 2022 1:54PM - 2:06PM |
T27.00009: The Quantum Enigmas Ghislain Lefebvre, Maxime Dion, Jean Frederic Laprade, Tom Mallah The Quantum computing platform team at Institut quantique has created a series of animated videos titled The Quantum Enigmas, which aims to introduce college and bachelor students to quantum computing. The format starts with a short narrative set in a colorful sci-fi universe where characters must answer an enigma using a single question and then transitions to a quantum circuit to see how the problem question is translated using basic quantum gates. Once the algorithm is programmed on a quantum computer, the results are analyzed and verified. |
Thursday, March 17, 2022 2:06PM - 2:18PM |
T27.00010: Quantum education for high-school students and teachers John M Donohue, Martin Laforest Helping students understand and appreciate the potential of quantum information science (QIS) in late high-school, as they make decisions about their college and university career, is an essential part of building the quantum workforce. While many resources exist for keen students to discover QIS, many more students are never exposed to the field or given opportunities to explore their interests. To provide more equitable access to introductory QIS education, it is important to involve not just academics and industry, but also high-school educators who can reach students widely and more efficiently. |
Thursday, March 17, 2022 2:18PM - 2:30PM |
T27.00011: The Sydney Quantum Experience PhD Program Peter S Turner The Sydney Quantum Academy (SQA) is a unique partnership between four leading institutions, Macquarie University, the University of New South Wales, the University of Sydney, and the University of Technology Sydney. Collaborating with academia, industry and government, the SQA harnesses Sydney’s world class collective quantum expertise to build Australia's quantum economy. |
Follow Us |
Engage
Become an APS Member |
My APS
Renew Membership |
Information for |
About APSThe American Physical Society (APS) is a non-profit membership organization working to advance the knowledge of physics. |
© 2024 American Physical Society
| All rights reserved | Terms of Use
| Contact Us
Headquarters
1 Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740-3844
(301) 209-3200
Editorial Office
100 Motor Pkwy, Suite 110, Hauppauge, NY 11788
(631) 591-4000
Office of Public Affairs
529 14th St NW, Suite 1050, Washington, D.C. 20045-2001
(202) 662-8700