Regional “Founding Quantum Members” including CSU will undertake joint interdisciplinary research and education on campus and also with the Cleveland Clinic

Quantum Computing is at the top of buzzworthy phrases bandied about in technology circles. This rapidly emerging technology yokes the laws of quantum mechanics to solve problems deemed “too complex” for traditional computers. Now we have one of these miraculous machines in our own backyard.

IBM deployed The IBM Quantum System One—the first on-premises quantum computer in United States—on Monday, March 20 at the Cleveland Clinic. It’s the first quantum computer in the world to be uniquely dedicated to healthcare research, with the goal of accelerating biomedical discoveries and research through “high-performance computing, artificial intelligence and quantum computing.”

Rest assured, Cleveland State University is out in front of it—actively engaging, leveraging and steering research and education of this technology in our own backyard and building community partnerships around a future that’s here today.

CSU is one of three “Founding Quantum Members” in the region (joining Case Western Reserve University and Kent State University) participating in the joint research and education across disciplines on campus and also with the Clinic.

This represents both a watershed moment for the city, region and state and also an exciting time for CSU, which has been forging strident quantum computing plans on many fronts, creating greater collaboration with regional partners and forging interdisciplinary alliances at CSU in the process:

• CSU recently received two National Science Foundation (NSF) and one New America Public Interest Technology University Network (PIT-UN) grant on Quantum Computing. The Principal Investigators of the three grants are: Hiram Lopez (Math), Sathish Kumar (EECS) and Charles McElroy (Business). The PIT-UN grant is arranged through CSU T.E.C.H. Hub (Shilpa Kedar);
• CSU also offered a Quantum Summer Camp “Qubit by Qubit, CSforCLE” for high school students during Summer 2022 (Chelsey Cook Kohn, Debbie Jackson) developing community partnerships to foster a diverse tech talent pipeline;
• And lastly, though certainly not least, CSU is in the readying stages of rolling out a joint CSU-Cleveland Clinic Ph.D. program in Engineering with Applied Data Science specialization.

Needless to say, it’s an exciting time for everyone involved. The only thing that’s missing? You.

Quantum Computing Curriculum at CSU

With the support from the JobsOhio project (Joanne Belovich), CSU began offering a Quantum Computing course for the first time during the Fall 2022 Semester. It was team-taught by CSU faculty members—Hiram Lopez (Math), Janche Sang (EECS), and Mehdi Rahmati (EECS).

Next year, the University plans to offer Quantum Machine Learning, Quantum Computing for Life Science, and Quantum Information Science in addition to Quantum Computing course—with a near-future plan to introduce a Quantum Certificate Program. Classes are scheduled on Fridays to welcome students across campus as well as a continuing education. See details here.

Explore the Quantum World: Cleveland Educator Workshop

As if these successes with an eye on the future weren’t enough, CSU is also offering a first-of-its-kind professional development workshop in partnership with the Cleveland Clinic. High school and undergraduate teachers and faculty will learn how to introduce their students to quantum computing.

During the pilot program—funded by the PIT-UN award under the “The PIT Quantum Computing Training Pipeline” project collaboration—registrants will learn the basics of quantum computing, engage in hands-on activities, and develop lesson plans and activities they can use with their students.

They’ll also join a cohort of fellow teachers excited to introduce emerging technologies and quantum computing to their students. The rolling application for this program has a priority deadline of May 1, 2023. Register now at the Explore the Quantum World: Cleveland Educator Workshop page.

Photo courtesy of IBM and the Cleveland Clinic