arXiv subjects

A. R. Piña

Publications and source records attributed to A. R. Piña.

8 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Trajectories into Careers in the Quantum Industry: Beyond Knowledge and Skills

Career preparation for participation in the quantum industry is often framed in terms of formal educational pipelines, workforce projections, and knowledge and skills needed for various roles. Less is known about how quantum industry professionals themselves characterize their preparation for participation in the field. In this paper, we analyze interviews with quantum industry professionals working across a range of positions and company types to examine the experiences that enable entry into the quantum industry. Using thematic analysis, we identify four trajectories: (1) continuity of research practice from academia to industry, (2) reframing of prior expertise for quantum applications, (3) incremental engagement through various professional opportunities, and (4) network-enabled entry. These trajectories often co-occur within individual narratives, showing that preparation emerges from a combination of educational, professional, and relational experiences. Our findings demonstrate that supporting preparation for quantum industry careers requires more than the design of formal coursework and degree programs. Our results highlight the importance of experiential learning opportunities that allow students to apply their knowledge and skills and develop professional connections that facilitate entry into quantum careers.

physics.ed-ph↗

arXiv2026

Experimental Skills for Undergraduate Career Preparation in Quantum Information Science and Engineering

The growth of the Quantum Information Science and Engineering (QISE) industry has increased interest in how undergraduate programs prepare students for careers in this field. Prior research emphasizes the value of experiential learning as preparation for the quantum industry, but lacks specificity regarding the experimental skills needed for positions available to bachelor's degree graduates. In this study, we investigate the experimental skills associated with bachelor's-level quantum industry positions through 44 semi-structured interviews with quantum industry professionals. Guided by the American Association of Physics Teachers recommendations for the undergraduate physics laboratory curriculum, we characterize the experimental skills associated with positions described as requiring bachelor's-level preparation and thematically synthesize them into four categories: instrumentation, computation and data analysis, experimental and project design, and communication and collaboration. We further examine how these skills cluster across role types and articulate them as learning goals to provide guidance for educators interested in aligning undergraduate instruction with the needs of students wanting to pursue a career in the quantum industry. Our findings suggest the need to emphasize the discussion of hardware in QISE theory courses, expand experimental training through instructional laboratories, and intentionally integrate professional skills in undergraduate QISE education.

physics.ed-ph↗

arXiv2026

Profiles of Roles in the Quantum Industry

This report builds upon the Categorization of Roles in the Quantum Industry report by providing detailed profiles for 29 distinct roles across the quantum workforce. While the earlier report established a framework of four major role categories (hardware, software, bridging, and public facing and business) and their subcategories, the current report expands on this structural framework by characterizing what professionals in each role actually do, particularly by identifying the tasks, knowledge, skills, abilities (KSAs), and experience typically required for each role. Each role profile follows a standardized structure guided by the Occupational Information Network (O*NET) framework. By presenting a fine-grained view of day-to-day work and qualification expectations, this report serves as a practical resource for educators, students, industry professionals, and policymakers aiming to understand, educate, and support the evolving quantum workforce.

physics.ed-ph↗

arXiv2025

Experimental Skills for Non-PhD Roles in the Quantum Industry

As the quantum information science and engineering (QISE) workforce grows, there is an anticipated need for professionals with bachelor's and master's degrees who can fill a wide range of roles in the quantum industry. This report identifies the experimental skills needed for individuals with bachelor's or master's degrees to succeed in quantum industry roles. Through semi-structured interviews with quantum industry employers, we gathered data on 22 distinct positions spanning hardware, software, and business functions. While employers describe varying expectations of quantum expertise, the unifying requirement across these roles is proficiency in experimental skills, which fall into four key categories: instrumentation, computation and data analysis, experimental and project design, as well as communication and collaboration. Positions open to bachelor's and master's graduates use all four skill areas, but the balance of experimental skill set needed differs. Bachelor's roles lean toward instrumentation, computation and data analysis, as well as experimental and project design skills. Individuals in these roles build, operate, and troubleshoot hardware, and they gather and interpret data to design and carry out experiments. Master's roles stand out with the communication and collaboration skills needed on top of the other three skill categories. Individuals in these roles oversee experiments, coordinate teams, and align efforts with company and client needs. By articulating experimental skills needed for bachelor's and master's roles in the quantum industry, this report provides actionable insights for educators developing QISE courses and programs.

physics.ed-ph↗

arXiv2025

Industry Perspectives on Projected Quantum Workforce Needs

As more physics educators are developing courses and programs to prepare students for careers in quantum information science, understanding the quantum industry's future workforce needs has become increasingly important. As part of ongoing efforts to understand the knowledge and skills needed for various job roles, we interviewed quantum industry professionals in managerial positions about workforce needs. Through thematic analysis, we identify two broad themes about projected needs. First, managers anticipate a need for a range of educational levels from bachelors to PhDs in physics, engineering, and computer science to fill the needs of roles spanning manufacturing to innovation. Second, managers anticipate an increased need for individuals who can apply quantum information science knowledge across fields. These results provide insights for physics educators about course and program development: continued investment in quantum information science education at all levels is valuable, and greater emphasis should be placed on applications of quantum science.

physics.ed-ph↗

arXiv2025

Insights from Educators on Building a More Cohesive Quantum Information Science and Engineering Education Ecosystem

As the need for a quantum-ready workforce grows, educators in Quantum Information Science and Engineering (QISE) face the challenge of aligning their programs and courses with industry needs. Through a series of interviews with program directors and faculty across 15 different institutions, we identified the considerations that educators are currently addressing as they develop their various courses and programs. Grounded in a curriculum framework, we conducted a Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) analysis, which revealed shared challenges and opportunities about program context, curriculum development, collaboration, program data collection and evaluation, and connections across stakeholders in the quantum ecosystem that educators should consider when developing their QISE efforts. Our findings highlight five overreaching themes: (1) the strategic ways educators navigate institutional structures to support QISE initiatives, (2) the ongoing challenge of aligning QISE curricula with industry and institutional needs, (3) the importance of fostering interdisciplinary collaboration across departments and institutions in QISE, (4) the need for robust data collection and evaluation to inform QISE course and program development, and (5) the importance of strengthening industry-academia connections to prepare students for the quantum workforce. The details and interconnections in our findings illustrate the value of applying a structured approach to QISE course and program development with the goal of creating a more cohesive QISE education ecosystem.

physics.ed-ph↗

arXiv2025

Investigating Opportunities for Growth and Increased Diversity in Quantum Information Science and Engineering Education in the U.S. based on an Analysis of the Current Educational Landscape

Quantum Information Science and Engineering (QISE) is rapidly gaining interest across a wide range of disciplines. As QISE continues to evolve, engineering will play an increasingly critical role in advancing quantum technologies. While efforts to characterize introductory QISE courses are underway, a comprehensive understanding of QISE education across the United States remains lacking. Developing a broad understanding of the QISE education landscape is crucial for addressing the needs of the growing quantum industry and ensuring equitable access for a diverse range of participants. This paper presents part of an ongoing effort to characterize the current landscape of QISE courses and degree programs in higher education in the US. To achieve this, we used publicly available information from university and college websites to capture information on over 8000 courses that address quantum in some way and nearly 90 QISE specific programs (e.g., degrees, minors, certificates). The majority of these programs are interdisciplinary and include engineering; 14 of them are housed exclusively in engineering departments. We find most programs are offered at research intensive institutions. Our results showcase an opportunity for program developers at non-research intensive institutions to justify the creation of QISE programs, which would also address calls from different stakeholders in QISE education for a more diverse QISE workforce. We suggest strategies based on the findings of this study such as integrating QISE into existing engineering courses, investing in the development of QISE courses and programs at non-PhD-granting institutions, and making courses with QISE content accessible to students from a variety of majors.

physics.ed-ph↗

arXiv2025

Landscape of Quantum Information Science and Engineering Education: From Physics Foundations to Interdisciplinary Frontiers

Quantum Information Science and Engineering (QISE) is rapidly gaining interest from those within many disciplines and higher education needs to adapt to the changing landscape. Although QISE education still has a strong presence and roots in physics, the field is becoming increasingly interdisciplinary. There is a need to understand the presence of QISE instruction and quantum-related instruction across all disciplines in order to figure out where QISE education is already happening and where it could be expanded. Although there is recent work that characterizes introductory QISE courses, there is no holistic picture of the landscape of QISE and quantum-related education in the United States. We analyzed course catalogs from 1,456 U.S. institutions. We found 61 institutions offering QISE degree programs, mostly at PhD-granting schools, with physics, electrical and computer engineering (ECE), and computer science(CS) as their primary contributors . Across all institutions, we identified over 8,000 courses mentioning 'quantum,' but about one-third of institutions in our study had none. We also found over 500 dedicated QISE courses, concentrated in PhD-granting institutions, primarily in physics, ECE, and CS. Physics leads in offering both general quantum-related ($\sim$4,700) and QISE-specific ($\sim$200) courses. Across multiple disciplines, we see that QISE topics are being introduced in courses not fully dedicated to QISE, which may be a productive strategy for increasing access to QISE education. Our dataset and analysis provide the most comprehensive overview to date of quantum education across US higher education. To ensure broad access, all data are publicly available and downloadable at quantumlandscape.streamlit.app. We hope these findings will support and guide future efforts in curriculum design, workforce development, and education policy across the quantum ecosystem.

physics.ed-ph↗