With a $5 million grant from the National Science Foundation, the University of Arkansas, Pine Bluff will lead a collaboration with the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville and the University of Arkansas at Little Rock to establish a Quantum Information Science and Engineering (QISE) program.
UAPB is one of three historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) awarded the 2022 NSF Expanding Capacity in Quantum Information Science and Engineering program (Expand QISE) grant, along with Howard University and Morehouse College. According to the Expand QISE Program, the award grants up to $5 million over five years to advance quantum information into a new generation of computers, detectors, and new materials of the future.
The NSF-funded program, called QuAPB, will be located on the UAPB campus and will be a first-of-its-kind quantum center in this region of the United States. Once QuAPB is fully operational at UAPB, it will be an integrated research and education program in quantum materials and devices for integrated quantum photonics.
UAPB Chancellor Laurence Alexander said: “This is a major grant from NSF and a great opportunity for us to work with our university system partners to expand our STEM program offerings. QISE is an area that will enable our students to obtain the advanced study and experience needed for the jobs of the future.” According to Dr. Mansour Mortazavi, UAPB vice chancellor for research, innovation and economic development and professor of quantum optics: “Establishing this world-class research and education at UAPB combines the talents and capabilities of scientists and engineers in Arkansas. It demonstrates that the discovery of new frontiers does not just happen somewhere or by somebody else. Instead, it can happen right here in Arkansas. QuAPB will also add a tremendous, highly influential workforce to Arkansas in a very prestigious field of science and engineering.” The QuAPB team will include Dr. Qinglong Jiang, UAPB assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry and Physics, Dr. Daoyuan Wang, UAPB assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry and Physics, and Dr. Grant Wangila, UAPB professor in the Department of Chemistry and Physics and interim dean of the School of Arts and Sciences, and Dr. Shui-Qing (Fisher) Yu, professor of electrical engineering, representing the U of A, along with Dr. Hugh Churchill, associate professor of physics and associate director of the MonArk NSF Quantum Foundry, Dr. Gregory Guisbiers, UALR assistant professor of physics and Dr. Tansel Karabacak, UALR professor and chairman, Department of Physics and Astronomy.