Colorado researchers lead study on quantum workforce growth

BOULDER, Colo. — A team of physicists and education researchers is leading the largest study of its kind on how the United States can prepare workers for the fast-growing quantum technology industry.

The project, launched in 2024, is led by the University of Colorado Boulder and Rochester Institute of Technology with funding from the National Science Foundation and the Laboratory for Physical Science Qubit Collaboratory. Researchers are examining how universities and businesses can meet the demand for skilled employees as the industry expands nationwide.

Quantum technology companies are designing tools that harness the properties of atoms and electrons, including computers that could aid drug discovery and sensors that may detect illness from a single breath. Colorado has emerged as a hub for the sector. In 2023, the U.S. Economic Development Administration designated Elevate Quantum, a coalition of 120 organizations in the Mountain West with CU Boulder as a lead partner, as an official tech hub for quantum information technology. The industry employs about 3,000 people in the state, with projections that the number could more than triple within a decade.

Heather Lewandowski, one of the project leads and a fellow at JILA, a joint institute of CU Boulder and the National Institute of Standards and Technology, said universities are developing new courses and programs but need clearer data on what students require to succeed.

The researchers are surveying more than 1,400 degree-granting institutions and conducting interviews with 200 professionals from quantum companies across the country. Early findings include an interactive map of every quantum information science course offered in the United States and evidence that employers want graduates with hands-on training in the technology.

“Questions about workforce development and education planning are complicated because how do you plan for what’s going to happen in this industry in five years?” said Shams El-Adawy, a postdoctoral researcher on Lewandowski’s team.

The group is encouraging business leaders, scientists and engineers to participate in the study as it continues to track the development of the quantum workforce.