QuISU Quantum Information Science for Undergraduates :: A Summer Enrichment Program of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology / June 13-17. 2011
 
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AFFILIATED WEBSITES

Interdisciplinary Quantum Information Science and Engineering
iquise.mit.edu

W. M. Keck Foundation Center for Extreme Quantum Information Theory
xqit.mit.edu

MIT-Harvard Center for Ultracold Atoms
cua.mit.edu

Quantum Information Science at MIT
qis.mit.edu

QuISU is a self-contained program for rising college seniors providing an introduction to quantum information science. No prior knowledge of quantum mechanics is required.
Modern information technology is an engineering success built on the foundations of physical switching and signaling devices, algorithms, information, and control. Quantum information processing is a novel field whose foundations lie at the most fundamental physical level. Here, the strange and counterintuitive features of quantum mechanics — "quantum weirdness" like superposition and entanglement — can be used to perform computation and communication in ways that classical systems cannot. Already there has been a tremendous new influx of ideas from quantum physics, resulting in high performance quantum algorithms, emerging new capabilities for information transmission, and a nascent generation of quantum information processing devices. Moreover, there is widespread understanding that these fundamental ideas will lead to useful new information technology, and provide computing, communication, and control systems beyond the limits of traditional paradigms, carrying with them profound social implications.

At present, the first generation of quantum information researchers is distributed, worldwide, across many disciplines: physics, electrical engineering, computer science, mathematics, chemistry,… These pioneers entered the field through many educational pathways, none of which provided the broad preparation and practical perspective that will be needed to realize the reliable, distributed, large-scale quantum computing systems which will usefully implement quantum algorithms and communication protocols. Funded by the National Science Foundation under its Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship (IGERT) Program, the fourteen MIT faculty — drawn from seven academic departments — who are actively engaged in quantum information research have banded together to create a graduate curriculum in quantum information science and engineering. Their new program, Interdisciplinary Quantum Information Science and Engineering (iQuISE), is aimed at producing the next generation of quantum information scientists and engineers. The iQuISE program is now soliciting graduate students through regular departmental procedures for fall 2011 admission.

Because many talented undergraduates may not be aware of the opportunities afforded by being in the vanguard of quantum information science and engineering, MIT will offer a special summer program Quantum Information Science for Undergraduates (QuISU) from June 13th through June 17th 2011. QuISU is for rising seniors (i.e., undergraduates about to enter their senior year) majoring in physics, computer science, engineering, or mathematics, who seek a basic knowledge of quantum information processing. The course is self-contained, assuming only a very basic knowledge of probability and linear algebra. The principal faculty will be Professor Isaac L. Chuang, co-author of the definitive textbook Quantum Computation and Quantum Information, Professor Seth Lloyd, who created the design for the first workable quantum computer, Professor Jeffrey H. Shapiro, who has pioneered the use of nonclassical light sources for communication and sensing, and Professor Scott Aaronson whose research interests center around fundamental limits on what can efficiently be computed in the physical world. In addition to classroom instruction, students will have laboratory tours, interact with MIT graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and other faculty who work on quantum information processing.

The QuISU program can accommodate 20 students. Preference will be given to students with US citizenship. The program will cover all tuition costs for participants. Students from outside the Boston area will be housed in MIT dormitories. Women and underrepresented minorities are particularly encouraged to apply, and special funds are available to cover the travel and living expenses of such applicants. If you wish to avail yourself of this special support, please identify yourself as a woman or underrepresented minority in your application.

To apply for admission into the QuISU program, please send an email to QuISU@rle.mit.edu containing the following files in PDF format: a cover letter stating your interest in the program and, if appropriate, your qualification for special funding for travel and living expenses; a completed application form; a curriculum vitae, including a list of relevant subjects that you have taken in science and engineering; and a letter of recommendation from a faculty member at your home institution. Applications must be received by February 15, 2011. Admission decisions will be sent out by email on or before March 15, 2011.

DOWNLOAD THE BROCHURE AND APPLICATION

  © 2011 Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Research Laboratory of Electronics at MIT Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)