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UW receives NSF funds for investment in an interdisciplinary quantum future

The National Science Foundation has awarded $3 million to establish a NSF Research Traineeship at the University of Washington for graduate students in quantum information science and technology. The new traineeship — known as Accelerating Quantum-Enabled Technologies, or AQET — will make the UW one of just a handful of universities with a formal, interdisciplinary QIST curriculum. NanoES member and professor of electrical & computer engineering and physics, Kai-Mei Fu, will direct this new traineeship.

Defects Wanted; Apply Here – Q&A with physicist Kai-Mei Fu

NanoES faculty member and professor of electrical engineering and physics recently sat down with APS Physics. Kai-Mei studies the properties of atomic defects in materials with the goal of using these normally unwanted flaws to create quantum technologies for secure communication. She is also the co-chair of QuantumX, a University of Washington initiative seeking to facilitate and support activities that will accelerate quantum discoveries and technologies

Researchers take a bottom-up approach to synthesizing microscopic diamonds for bioimaging, quantum computing

NanoES faculty member Peter Pauzauskie and his team discovered that they can use extremely high pressure and temperature to introduce other elements into nanodiamonds, making them potentially useful in cell and tissue imaging, as well as quantum communications and quantum sensing. This work was done in collaboration with the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and published in Science Advances on May 3.

UW, Microsoft, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory establish new Northwest Quantum Nexus for a quantum revolution in science, technology

The UW has deep roots in quantum research and discovery, and today researchers across the UW — in the College of Engineering, the College of Arts & Sciences and the Institute for Nano-Engineered Systems — are at the forefront of QIS research. The university recently established UW Quantum X to join QIS research endeavors across the UW in fields such as quantum sensing, quantum computing, quantum communication and quantum materials and devices. Co-chairs of UW Quantum X are Kai-Mei Fu, associate professor of both physics and electrical and computer engineering and a NanoES faculty member, and Jim Pfaendtner, associate professor and chair of chemical engineering. Fu and Pfaendtner were also co-organizers of the summit, along with counterparts at Microsoft and the PNNL.