UMD Launches Quantum Technology Center to Translate Research into Technologies

(IEEESpectrum) The University of Maryland (UMD) has announced the launch of the Quantum Technology Center (QTC), which aims to translate quantum physics research into innovative technologies.
UMD has long been a powerhouse in quantum research and is now accelerating this trend with the launch of QTC. Founded jointly by UMD’s A. James Clark School of Engineering and College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences, QTC will translate quantum science to the marketplace.
“QTC will be a community that brings together different types of people and ideas to create new quantum technologies and train a new generation of quantum workforce,” says QTC founding Director Ronald Walsworth. “UMD will focus on developing these technologies in the early stages, and then translating them out to the wider world with diverse partners.”
“QTC will be a crucible for quantum science and engineering,” says Walsworth, a leader in quantum sensing who was recruited from Harvard University to lead the new center. “We’ll be building bridges between people, between sectors, between theories and technologies. There’s a kind of hunger for a community that pulls people together to pool information and find ways to overcome challenges in this exciting new area.”
According to Clark School Dean and Farvardin Professor Darryll Pines, UMD’s hiring of Walsworth signals an important next step in bringing engineering solutions to the forefront. “He’s the perfect representative to bridge the gap between physics and engineering, because he’s already been doing that himself,” says Pines.