NSF Awards $38M in Grants to Support Quantum-Focused Research Projects

The National Science Foundation has awarded $38 million in funding to 22 projects under a program aiming to increase quantum information science and engineering research capacity, training and education at U.S. colleges and universities.

The Expanding Capacity in Quantum Information Science and Engineering program awards were split into two tracks. Track 1 awards of up to $800,000 over three years were given to individual researchers that have institutions with extensive QISE experience as partners, the NSF said. Selected Track 1 projects include “Quantum Molecular Dynamics on Quantum Computers,” involving Marquette University, and “Scalable Quantum Gravimeters With Large-Momentum-Transfer Atom Interferometry,” involving Rutgers University-Newark.

Track 2 awardees, meanwhile, are teams collaborating with institutions that have deep QISE research experience. The teams will receive up to $5 million over five years. The NSF selected five projects under Track 2, including “A Quantum Science Education and Research Program for HBCUs: Exotic Physics and Applications of Solid-State Qubits” and “Leveraging Synthetic Degrees of Freedom for Quantum State Engineering in Photonic Chips,” involving Howard University and the City College of New York, respectively.