New center brings IU faculty together to develop global technologies

Indiana University has taken an important step in quantum science research.

Indiana University has established a new research center called Quantum Science and Engineering Center to pursue the rapidly developing field of quantum science and engineering. The new center brings the IU faculty together to develop the technologies and advance global quantum research.

The new center is based on the Quantum Mechanics which is controlling the universe on atomic length scales. The science at this scale works to control physics, chemistry, and materials to calculate and find the results. It is a kind like the original computer but calculated by using physics and chemistry materials. Although it is still being researched, it may one day become indispensable in the society like computers. According to recent developments in technologies such as cryptography, computing, and the creation of new materials and sensors, it can quite rightly be identified as truly a “Quantum Revolution” in technology.

The national government recognized it is important to develop quantum science technologies and The enactment of the National Quantum Initiative Act in 2018 created.

David Baxter, the executive director of the Quantum Science and Engineering Center, and a professor of physics in the College of Arts and Sciences at IU Bloomington said the new center shows that IU is contributing to quantum science play a main role in the second quantum revolution.

Interview with David Baxter and Gerardo Ortiz

” You know quantum information science is something that is expending all over the world,” Gerardo Ortiz, the scientific director of the Quantum Science and Engineering Center and the professor of physics in the College of Arts and Sciences said. “It is not something just going on the state.”

IU’s Quantum Science and Engineering Center as a leading center is not only to enhance interactions among quantum activities at Indiana University but also to promote connections with other schools and countries such as China. There is much significant quantum-related research going at IU in physics, mathematics, chemistry, informatics, psychology and even history. These efforts are decentralized but world-class, so the establishment of this new quantum science center can link these studies and increase the impact of quantum science in the world. At the same time, it can communicate with the research of various countries to get better achievements.

Researchers at IU are engaged in several different projects in the Quantum Science and Engineering Center and the new center keeps hiring new faculty members to contribute different kinds of research projects. It also has a group of professors all over the campus is trying to stimulate masters to work on quantum information science. And the center will spur educational opportunities for IU students like offering some new undergraduate courses.

Students are a vital component of the center to develop new technologies. “The whole idea is to educate the next generation, not just next year but maybe the next hundred years,” Ortiz said. ” People will start thinking in quantum ways that’s the main idea.”

IU masters students in the center are very active in their projects and they are committed to researching quantum information technologies.

Interview with the masters students in the center

“I just think that quantum computing is fascinating in general,” Marissa Donofrio, IU masters student works at the Quantum Science and Engineering Center said.

All the students in the center feel excited about the quantum projects and want to realize the second quantum revolution in IU.