March 17, 2025
Nyla Husain
Since physicists first developed modern quantum mechanics, its principles have been instrumental to a range of technologies. Solar cells depend on the photoelectric effect to generate electrical currents from photons, for example, and MRI machines rely on particle “spin” to create images of the human brain.
More recently, researchers are trying to apply this knowledge to new technologies. The goal is to develop quantum systems that could far exceed current capabilities — most notably, in computing, sensing, and communications.
But realizing these technologies requires a knowledgeable workforce with diverse skillsets. This is what Michael Bennett aims to help build.
IMG: Bennett and other APS members meet with a congressional staffer for APS Congressional Visits Day in 2023; Michael Bennett
“If you look at the companies that exist, a lot of times, their CEOs and founders are Ph.D. physicists,” he says. “But the people that they're hiring are no longer just Ph.D. physicists. They're hiring engineers and technicians, as well as businesspeople, marketers, and communication specialists.”
As the director of education and workforce development at Q-SEnSE, or Quantum Systems through Entangled Science and Engineering — a National Science Foundation Quantum Leap Challenge Institute led by the University of Colorado Boulder — Bennett oversees programs that equip undergraduate students with the skills, experiences, and connections to carve career paths in the quantum industry. While the programs today primarily serve undergrads in physics and engineering, Bennett wants to eventually reach students across STEM. “Because quantum as a field is so multidisciplinary to begin with, it doesn't make sense to only train physicists,” he says.
The center’s flagship programs are Quantum Forge — a yearlong capstone experience that connects students to local quantum startups — and the Quantum Research Exchange, or QRX, an internship readiness program during the academic year. QRX provides foundational training in quantum science, along with professional development and networking, to students from local public universities and community colleges who wouldn’t otherwise be exposed. “We had a student from CU Denver who didn't know what quantum was before,” Bennett says, who “went on to graduate study in quantum specifically because they participated in the program.”
CU Boulder has a long history of pioneering research in quantum physics. Since 2001, four of its scientists have won the Nobel Prize for their discoveries. “Those are the sorts of things that people at CU Boulder specialize in,” Bennett says. “A lot of quantum startups in the Colorado area are in Colorado because their founders went to CU Boulder.”
Bennett began his career in a different field, pursuing his doctorate in nuclear astrophysics at Michigan State University. But his interests began to evolve. “A lot of people in grad school didn't fit the model I had built up of physics — this idea that the people who are good at it are just geniuses and don't need anybody, which is so far from the truth.” Dispelling this myth, he realized, “helps people feel comfortable bringing their desire for community into the field, and fostering community helps science be more empathetic."
He sought experiences in informal physics education — anywhere physics is taught outside the classroom, like public lectures, documentaries, podcasts, or museum exhibits. He wasn’t new to this type of learning. Before graduate school, he worked at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, where he designed and implemented planetarium shows and stargazing events. “I really gained an appreciation for the impact that informal experiences can have, not only on a person's interest in science, but also their sense of identification with science,” he says.
This work and his graduate school community solidified his desire to help students succeed in physics. After earning his doctorate in 2016, he joined the JILA Physics Frontier Center. “It was a postdoc position that was half running a public engagement program and half doing research on that program,” he says.
The lessons Bennett learned at JILA have been integral to his work at Q-SEnSE. With the Quantum Research Exchange, for instance, he helps students see themselves in the industry by teaching them how to market their skills and develop confidence in their ability to understand and apply quantum physics. For example, “we have a quantum 101 lecture series,” he says. “We’re starting a quantum hackathon where students are going to learn how to use IBM’s Qiskit platform, among others.”
He often works with students in cybersecurity programs at community colleges who want to apply their skills to a new field. “A lot of different people are going to need to be involved in quantum,” Bennett says, noting the industry’s need for more non-specialists — workers who may have STEM backgrounds, but don’t necessarily have advanced physics degrees.
Many students who participate in Quantum Forge go on to work with their industry sponsor — one of several quantum companies in the Boulder-Denver area. “Academics in professorship roles don't typically have a strong connection to industry,” says Bennett, “so there aren't a lot of capstone opportunities like Research Experiences for Undergraduates, or working with a professor, for students who want to go into industry” — a gap that Quantum Forge aims to fill. “The hope is that by the time they're done with the year, they’re feeling pretty equipped to just step out and go get a job.”
Along with his involvement in initiatives like the American Physical Society’s Committee on Public Engagement and the Joint Network for Informal Physics Education and Research (JNIPER), Bennett is also helping organize a Quantum Education and Policy Summit in Washington, D.C., from Aug. 6-8 for the International Year of Quantum. “The goal of this event is to address this question, ‘what do we want quantum to look like as a whole field?’” he says.
“Quantum is so young as a field,” he adds. “We have an opportunity to make it the field we want it to be, and that’s why I’m excited to be in it.”
LINK: https://www.aps.org/apsnews/2025/03/career-pipelines-quantum-workers