Advancing Chemistry and Quantum Information Science An Assessment of Research Opportunities at the Interface of Chemistry and Quantum Information Science in the United States (2023) / Chapter Skim
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5 Building a Diverse, Quantum-Capable Workforce and Fostering Economic Development at the Intersection of QIS and Chemistry
5 Building a Diverse, Quantum-Capable Workforce and Fostering Economic Development at the Intersection of QIS and Chemistry
Pages 171-194
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From page 171... ...
• Traditional industry players, including those involved in the chemical sciences, are increasingly partnering with quantum computing companies. • Continued and future research and development at the intersection of QIS and chemistry holds strong potential to transform science and technology in the private sector and foster economic development.
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5.1 GETTING THE SCIENCE RIGHT FOR QIS AND CHEMISTRY STUDENTS As highlighted at the beginning of this report, the United States has made significant progress in developing a few key quantum technologies, such as atomic clocks, electric field sensors, and superconducting qubits. This acceleration can be attributed to the support of the National Quantum Initiative Act (NQIA)
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The following recommendation discusses the specific actors and activities needed at a broad level to strengthen the chemistry–QIS workforce. 5.2 QIS AND CHEMISTRY EDUCATION DEVELOPMENT Ensuring a continued knowledge and expertise base that is familiar with QIS requires preparing students and workers at various educational and skill set levels.
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5.2.1 Preparing Curricular Resources Related to Chemistry Concepts Guided by QIS Principles for K–12 and Undergraduate Educators K–12 educators have many responsibilities, from academic instruction, to oversight, to fostering student social development and interaction. And to task them with the additional expectation to create specialized curricula and concepts (e.g., quantum chemistry, quantum mechanics, quantum algorithms)
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The Quantum Information Science and Technology Workforce Development National Strategic Plan (see Raymer and Monroe 2019; Subcommittee on Quantum Information Science of the National Science and Technology Council 2022) outlined four key strategies to advance the quantum information science and technology (QIST)
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The National Quantum Information Science Research Centers have made inroads in reaching talent at the undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral levels, and beyond, by hosting workshops and by offering internships, apprenticeships, fellowships, postdoctoral positions, and visiting-faculty appointments. However, the opportunities for developing the skills needed to pursue careers in QIS are largely concentrated at the graduate level, where the percentage of people from historically marginalized communities is low.
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As illustrated in Section 5.1, another recruitment obstacle facing the QIS workforce is the lack of exposure chemists have to QIS activities, like learning about QIS concepts through multidisciplinary approaches, grant opportunities, mentorship, and even job and internship postings. Understanding the motivation behind "why" an individual would want to join the field will further the industry's understanding of how to reach a broader base.
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Although its sole focus is quantum computers, Quantum Futures (based in the United Kingdom) is another organization that adopts different techniques to acquire and connect talent to their optimal nodes inside the ecosystem (Quantum Futures n.d.)
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BOX 5-2 Areas in QIS Research and Development (R&D) That Need More Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR)
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Entangled photon sources can be bought from a few companies for quantum networking purposes, but they usually have narrow frequency ranges (telecom at 1550 nm) , low powers, and limited energy–time correlation bandwidths as needed for spectroscopy.
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5.4 DEVELOPMENT OF A DIVERSE, QUANTUM-CAPABLE WORKFORCE Up to this point, many of the discussions have centered on including more chemistry content into QIS curricula and activities and supporting diversity in a nascent field. Here, the committee provides a recommendation aimed at increasing the talent in the existing QIS and chemistry workforce by recruiting nontraditional students, retraining the existing workforce, and appealing to talent from adjacent fields.
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while helping the interns to build a network and develop relationships in the research community. In sum, as economic activity at the intersection of QIS and the chemical sciences expands, demand for a quantum-capable chemical sciences workforce will increase.
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Students in non-quantum, STEM-related undergraduate programs possess the skill sets needed for the career paths that do not require in-depth quantum knowledge, such as maintenance technician. Next Generation Quantum Science and Engineering (Q-NEXT)
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Box 5-3 highlights how the semiconductor industry has a strong overlap with the quantum space in terms of skill sets required of the workforce and is thus a potential area from which to recruit QIS and chemistry candidates.
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TABLE 5-3-1 Authorization Budget Over Five Years Across Federal Agencies SOURCE: Chips and Science Act of 2022 Division B Summary – Research and Innovation National Science Foundation, Department of Commerce, National Institute of Standards and Technology, National Aeronautics and Space Administra tion, and Department of Energy 2022e.
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National laboratory personnel: • Scientists (principal investigators) • Postdoctoral Scholar • Senior and Assistant Staff Scientists
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Generally, senior staff scientists can serve as principal investigators, and assistant staff scientists are more specialized doctoral-level researchers. Postdoctoral scholar positions are also available at government laboratories, and as in academia, they are temporary positions.
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Here, they focus on methods of development of problem decomposition techniques that allow one potentially to "fit" larger quantum chemistry problems into the constraints of smaller quantum computers. BI has also had several publications with Google.
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focus on simulating quantum chemistry on quantum computers in a seniority-zero subspace, which is a subspace of the complete active space where all configurations involve paired electrons. This is advantageous for quantum computing because the pairs of electrons can be treated bosonically, thus alleviating the requirement that fermionic antisymmetry is imposed (reducing circuit size)
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5.6 SUMMARY OF RECOMMENDATIONS RECOMMENDATION 5-1. Achieving the goal of a diverse and inclusive workforce will require partici pation from various members across the quantum information science (QIS)
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Recommendation 5-3. Efforts should be made to lower the current barriers to entry that limit mem bers of the chemistry research community from entering quantum information science (QIS)
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2021. "Simulating Quantum Chemistry in the Seniority-Zero Space on Qubit-Based Quantum Computers." Physical Review A 103(3)
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2022. "Towards the Simulation of Large Scale Protein–Ligand Interactions on NISQ-Era Quantum Computers." Chemical Science 13(11)
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2021. "Joint Statement of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United States of America on Cooperation in Quantum Information Sciences and Technologies." https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-us-joint-statement-on-cooperation-in-quan tum-information-sciences-and-technologies/joint-statement-of-the-united-kingdom-of-great-britain-and-northern-ireland and-the-united-states-of-america-on-cooperation-in-quantum-information-sci.
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