Quantum Technology Master's Internship Program at University of Oregon: Hands-on Training for Future Quantum Engineers

As Quantum Industry scales up on the path towards maturity, it is becoming increasingly clear that there needs to be a more robust talent pipeline apart from the current one that relies primarily on PhD level workforce [1,2]. Following the successful model of the already established master's internship programs at University of Oregon [3,4], we have designed a new five academic quarters Quantum Technology Master of Science program. The program incorporates two academic quarters of hands-on practical classes tailored for the skills needed for the quantum industry and pairs the students with industry or national labs partners for internships for as much as three academic quarters. In this presentation, we discuss the practical skills we focus our curriculum on based on our conversations and feedback from the quantum ecosystem leaders and outline the choices we have made in designing our curriculum.

 

[1] M.F. J. Fox, B.M. Zwickl, and H. J. Lewandowski, Preparing for the quantum revolution: What is the role of higher education?, Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res. 16, 020131 (2020).

[2] C.D. Aiello et. al., Achieving a quantum smart workforce, Quantum Sci. Technol. 6 030501 (2021).

[3] https://internship.uoregon.edu/

[4] https://electrochemistry.uoregon.edu/