arXiv subjects

H. J. Lewandowski

Publications and source records attributed to H. J. Lewandowski.

At least 19 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

Vibrational Quantum-State-Controlled Reactivity in the O2+ + C3H4 Reaction

Quantum-state-controlled reactivity is a long-standing goal in the field of physical chemistry. In this work, we explore the vibrational-state-dependent behavior of the ion-molecule reaction between O2+ in distinct vibrational states and two isomers of C3H4, allene (H2C3H2) and propyne (H3C3H). While most products are formed regardless of the vibrational state of O2+, the branching ratios are influenced by vibrational excitation, and a new product, C2O+, appears exclusively in the excited-state reactions. This selective formation of C2O+ demonstrates that vibrational excitation can effectively activate a reaction pathway, providing direct evidence of quantum-state control in reactivity. These results represent an important step towards the goal of quantum-state-controlled chemistry in molecular systems.

physics.chem-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

Categorization of Roles in the Quantum Industry

Continued growth of the quantum information science and engineering (QISE) industry has resulted in stakeholders spanning education, industry, and government seeking to better understand the workforce needs. This report presents a framework for the categorization of roles in the QISE industry based on 42 interviews of QISE professionals across 23 companies, as well as a description of the method used in the creation of this framework. The data included information on over 80 positions, which we have grouped into 29 roles spanning four primary categories. For each primary category we provide an overview of what unites the roles within a category, a description of relevant subcategories, and definitions of the individual roles. These roles serve as the basis upon which we generate profiles of these roles, which include information about role critical tasks, necessary knowledge and skills, and educational requirements. Our next report will present such profiles for each of the roles presented herein.

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

Integrating noise into PhET simulations to promote student learning of measurement uncertainty

Understanding concepts and practices of measurement uncertainty is a core competency of physicists and engineers, and many physics lab courses aim to have students learn these ideas. However, there is strong evidence that these goals are often not met. To address the challenge of improving students' proficiency with measurement uncertainty concepts and practices, we designed and developed a new PhET simulation, Projectile Data Lab (PDL), featuring statistical noise and measurement tools in the context of projectile motion. We integrated this simulation into the Common Online Data Analysis Platform (CODAP), creating an instructional platform for collecting and analyzing data from the simulation, and designed three simulation-based instructional activities for instructors to use in their lab courses. We describe the pedagogical design of the new simulation, the PDL+CODAP instructional platform, and the associated instructional activities. We highlight how the targeted learning goals guided the pedagogical design, as well as how these three instructional tools (the simulation, the PDL+CODAP platform, and the lab activity) work together and leverage the affordances of each to scaffold learning. The goal of this work is to provide a model of how noise-enhanced simulations and activities can be designed to enhance student learning of measurement uncertainty.

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

Industry Insights into Quantum Knowledge Needed for the Quantum Information Science and Engineering Workforce

Quantum Information Science and Engineering (QISE) education and workforce development are top priorities at the national level in the US. This has included a push for academia to support the development of programs that will prepare students to enter the QISE workforce. As the field of QISE has grown rapidly in academia and industry, there is a need to better understand what quantum knowledge is needed for students to be ready for the workforce. We present preliminary findings on the level of quantum expertise and the specific quantum knowledge utilized across different roles, and in the execution of specific tasks in the QISE industry. Qualitative analysis of semi-structured interviews with industry professionals elucidates these aspects of the vital work functions related to the ongoing development of quantum technologies in industry. This work will provide insights into QISE curriculum development and changes needed to better support students transitioning into this growing industry.

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↗

arXiv2025

Convolutional neural network approach to ion Coulomb crystal image analysis

This paper reports on the use of a convolutional neural network (CNN) methodology to analyse fluorescence images of calcium-ion Coulomb crystals in the gas phase. A transfer-learning approach is adopted using the publicly available RESNET50 model. It is demonstrated that by training the neural network on around 500,000 simulated images, we are able to determine ion-numbers not only for a verification set of 100,000 simulated images, but also for experimental calcium-ion images from two different laboratories using a wide range of ion-trap parameters. Absolute ion numbers in the crystal were determined for the experimental data with a percentage error of approximately 10%. This analysis can be performed in a few seconds for an individual crystal image, and therefore the method enables the objective, and efficient, analysis of such images in real time, thereby facilitating time-dependent kinetic measurements on ion-molecule chemistry. The approach adopted also shows promising performance for identifying Ca+ ion numbers in images of mixed-species crystals.

physics.chem-ph↗

arXiv2025

Termination of bottom-up interstellar aromatic ring formation at C6H5+

The aromatic molecule benzene is considered the essential building block for larger polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in space. Despite benzene's importance in the formation of PAHs, the formation mechanisms of interstellar benzene are not well understood. A single ion-molecule reaction sequence is considered when modeling the formation of benzene in the interstellar medium, beginning with the protonation of acetylene. Although this process has been used to model the initial steps for formation of PAHs, it has not been experimentally measured. To explore this reaction mechanism, we have carried out the first experimental study of sequential ion-molecule reactions beginning with protonation of acetylene at single-collision conditions. Surprisingly, we find that the reaction sequence does not result in benzene and instead terminates at C6H5+, which is unreactive toward both acetylene and hydrogen. This result disproves the previously proposed mechanism for interstellar benzene formation, critically altering our understanding of interstellar PAH formation.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2025

Student reasoning about quantum mechanics while working with physical experiments

Instruction in quantum mechanics is becoming increasingly important as the field is not only a key part of modern physics research, but is also important for emerging technologies. However, many students regard quantum mechanics as a particularly challenging subject, in part because it is considered very mathematical and abstract. One potential way to help students understand and contextualize unintuitive quantum ideas is to provide them opportunities to work with physical apparatus demonstrating these phenomena. In order to understand how working with quantum experiments affects students' reasoning, we performed think-aloud lab sessions of two pairs of students as they worked through a sequence of quantum optics experiments that demonstrated particle-wave duality of photons. Analyzing the in-the-moment student thinking allowed us to identify the resources students activated while reasoning through the experimental evidence of single-photon interference, as well as student ideas about what parts of the experiments were quantum versus classical. This work will aid instructors in helping their students construct an understanding of these topics from their own ideas and motivate future investigations into the use of hands-on opportunities to facilitate student learning about quantum mechanics.

physics.ed-ph↗

arXiv2025

Affordances and Challenges of Incorporating a Remote, Cloud-accessible Quantum Experiment into Undergraduate Courses

As quantum technologies transition from the research laboratory into commercial development, the opportunities for students to begin their careers in this new quantum industry are increasing. With these new career pathways, more and more people are considering the best ways to educate students about quantum concepts and relevant skills. In particular, the quantum industry is looking for new employees with experimental skills, but the instructional labs, capstone projects, research experiences, and internships that provide experiences where students can learn these skills are often resource-intensive and not available at all institutions. The quantum company, Infleqtion, recently made its online quantum matter machine Oqtant publicly available, so people around the world could send commands to create and manipulate Bose-Einstein condensates and receive back real experimental data. Making a complex quantum experiment accessible to anyone has the potential to extend the opportunity to work with quantum experiments to students at less-resourced institutions. As a first step in understanding the potential benefits of using such a platform in educational settings, we collected data from instructors and students who were interested in using, or had used, Oqtant. In this study, we investigate instructors' views about reasons they would like to use Oqtant and challenges they would face in doing so. We also provide a concrete example of how Oqtant was used in an upper-division undergraduate quantum mechanics course and the instructor's perception of its benefits. We complement this with the student perspective, discussing student experiences interacting with Oqtant in their course or through think-aloud interviews outside of a course. These results will help the community consider the potential value for students of creating more opportunities to access remote quantum experiments.

physics.ed-ph↗

arXiv2024

Overview of couplet scoring in content-focused physics assessments

Content-focused research-based assessment instruments typically use items (i.e., questions) as the unit of assessment for scoring, reporting, and validation. Couplet scoring employs an alternative unit of assessment called a couplet, which is essentially an item viewed and scored through the lens of a specific assessment objective. With couplet scoring, a single item may have more than one assessment objective and therefore more than one couplet and thus more than one score. We outline the components of traditional item scoring, discuss couplet scoring and its benefits, and use both a recently developed content research-based assessment instrument and an existing one to ground our discussion.

physics.ed-ph↗

arXiv2024

Outcomes from a Workshop on a National Center for Quantum Education

In response to numerous programs seeking to advance quantum education and workforce development in the United States, experts from academia, industry, government, and professional societies convened for a National Science Foundation-sponsored workshop in February 2024 to explore the benefits and challenges of establishing a national center for quantum education. Broadly, such a center would foster collaboration and build the infrastructure required to develop a diverse and quantum-ready workforce. The workshop discussions centered around how a center could uniquely address gaps in public, K-12, and undergraduate quantum information science and engineering (QISE) education. Specifically, the community identified activities that, through a center, could lead to an increase in student awareness of quantum careers, boost the number of educators trained in quantum-related subjects, strengthen pathways into quantum careers, enhance the understanding of the U.S. quantum workforce, and elevate public engagement with QISE. Core proposed activities for the center include professional development for educators, coordinated curriculum development and curation, expanded access to educational laboratory equipment, robust evaluation and assessment practices, network building, and enhanced public engagement with quantum science.

physics.ed-ph↗