Developing an Undergraduate Quantum Workforce

To fulfill the growing demand for the future workforce in quantum, we need to come up with workforce development programs at the undergraduate level. This paper reflects on discussions with industry professionals and academics that have indicated the need for a future quantum workforce, including all levels of post-secondary education, and it presents an exploration of an experiential learning pedagogy aimed at teaching quantum concepts to undergraduate students. The challenge is the intricate and often abstract domain of quantum mechanics. Due to their complexity, quantum concepts pose a unique challenge in educational settings, making hands-on demonstration and accessible understanding a formidable task. We review the pedagogical approach of project-based learning in The Quantum Game Club at Purdue, a student-led organization that is a community from diverse academic backgrounds, such as Computer Science, Physics, and Engineering, who work on fun and creative quantum computing projects. The club aims to introduce students to quantum and provide the necessary resources to work on projects by utilizing curated assignments that help students understand basic information about quantum circuits and algorithms. After the introductory learning phase, the students are assigned to different teams working on projects related to their interests. Club students successfully completed projects resulting in publications and web apps and went on to win quantum hackathons. To further enhance the learning experience, the VIP (Vertically Integrated Projects) team QuantAlgo was established to provide students with a more immersive industrial experience by facilitating collaboration with companies on more research-heavy projects.