New Quantum Networks Research and Training Program Receives $3M NSF Award

The National Science Foundation Research Traineeship Program (NRT) awarded a $3 million Collaborative Grant to the University of Georgia (UGA) and the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, to develop a Quantum Networks Training and Research Alliance in the Southeast (QuaNTRASE).

The NSF award advances convergent research in quantum information science and engineering, which it has identified as a national priority of utmost importance, via training graduate students through a comprehensive traineeship model. The program supports graduate students, educates the STEM leaders of tomorrow, and strengthens the national research infrastructure. 

"NSF continues to invest in the future STEM workforce by preparing trainees to address challenges that increasingly require crossing traditional disciplinary boundaries," said Sylvia Butterfield, acting assistant director for NSF's Directorate for Education and Human Resources. "Supporting innovative and evidence-based STEM graduate education with an emphasis on recruiting and retaining a diverse student population is critical to ensuring a robust and well-prepared STEM workforce."

Quantum networks promise a novel and more secure functionality than the classical networks on which current communication encryption technologies are built. Developments surrounding quantum networks include fundamental discoveries in quantum science as well as key applications in cybersecurity, quantum sensors, and quantum computing.

"To realize the promised advantage of a quantum internet, many fundamental science and engineering challenges must be overcome via a convergent combination of expertise from several science and engineering disciplines and the development of a well-trained, interdisciplinary quantum network workforce." said Yohannes Abate, Susan Dasher and Charles Dasher MD Professor of Physics at UGA. "The goal of this program is to advance quantum networks research through the design and development of components and applications of quantum networks."

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Image Courtesy of Professor George Siopsis