Suffolk Reporter

Over two days in June, a group of 29 graduate students, faculty members, and administrators from minority-serving institutions gathered at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory. They participated in the Faculty Outreach for Quantum-Invested UniversitieS (FOQUS) program. The event was co-hosted by the Co-design Center for Quantum Advantage (C2QA) and Brookhaven Lab’s Office of Educational Programs.

The program included tours of several facilities at Brookhaven Lab that support quantum innovation and offered networking opportunities with researchers to explore potential collaborations. Kimberly McGuire, C2QA chief operations officer, said, "We developed FOQUS to build relationships with the program participants and researchers from Brookhaven and the five National QIS Research Centers."

The Office of Educational Programs played a significant role in designing the event and recruiting participants through the Quantum Faculty Outreach program sponsored by DOE’s Office of Science. Participants toured key facilities like the National Synchrotron Light Source II (NSLS-II) and the Center for Functional Nanomaterials (CFN), which are part of DOE's user facilities at Brookhaven Lab.

James Misewich, associate laboratory director for Energy and Photon Sciences at Brookhaven, encouraged participants to return to use these instruments: "That’s what we’re here for as a national facility." He explained how some scientists work on materials for qubits while others develop software for quantum computers.

FOQUS attendees also engaged with researchers from Brookhaven’s Computational Science Initiative and Instrumentation Department. These departments are involved in developing quantum code and expanding quantum networking infrastructure in collaboration with Stony Brook University.

Participants came from various disciplines. Tandeka Boko, an anatomy professor at Forsyth Technical Community College, attended to learn about quantum research tools and make it more accessible to her students. She stated, "I want to pique my students’ interest enough for them to choose to engage in this growing field."

Raymond Samuel from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University emphasized collaboration: “Single institutions are not appropriate for addressing these big challenges.” The program included representatives from other DOE National QIS Research Centers who discussed additional research opportunities.

Aloysius Jones from Forsyth Technical Community College aimed to form community connections through FOQUS: “I didn’t have access to many opportunities when I was a student.”

McGuire highlighted FOQUS's role in diversifying the QIS ecosystem by embracing new concepts such as 'entangling the people' and adopting a 'superposition mindset.' She noted that these concepts would be transformative for the QIS ecosystem.