Image Credit: City of Chicago
When Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park (IQMP) partner Fermilab asked Chicago Public Schools students if they were interested in learning more about the emerging technology making headlines across Chicago, more than 40 enrolled in the national laboratory’s “Saturday Morning Quantum*” (SMQ*) program — an opportunity right in their community to learn about quantum skills and careers from the experts.
For 10 Saturdays throughout the spring, students in the 9th through 12th grades – including many from the neighborhoods surrounding the IQMP – learned all about quantum at Olive Harvey College’s South Chicago Training Center on 92nd Street. Modeled after Fermilab’s Saturday Morning Physics program, which has run for more than 40 years, SMQ* uses a modern, active learning strategy whereby students can interact with mobile exhibits and ask questions of the Fermilab scientists behind the research. Participants even had the chance twice to visit Fermilab’s campus in Batavia, where they saw firsthand the labs and equipment they had been hearing about in the classroom.
Photo Credit: Fermilab Creative Services
“It’s an opportunity for [students] to tangibly see some of the concepts,” said Natalie Johnson, who heads the office of education and public engagement at Fermilab. “What excites me most is just seeing the lightbulb come on. No matter how small or large, just the fact that the students are taking in the knowledge and processing it, then being able to translate it and communicate it.”
Johnson said the students started the program with “zero” quantum knowledge. But at the SMQ* graduation ceremony on May 31, guest speakers referred to them as “quantum scholars.”
10th Ward Alderman Peter Chico told the students, families, and IQMP partners gathered for the celebration that when the project was announced last year, his first thoughts were how to invest in youth and incorporate the knowledge that will be generated at the Park into the classroom.
“This is an emotional day for me,” Alderman Chico said. “Looking out into the crowd seeing members of our black and brown communities coming together on Saturday mornings with the help of Fermilab, City Colleges and CPS to learn about quantum computing on the Southeast Side, how freaking great is that?”
Photo Credit: City of Chicago
The IQMP is designed to support the full ecosystem of companies, researchers, suppliers, end users and other partners working to facilitate the development and commercialization of quantum technologies. As the Park continues to cement Chicago’s position as a global destination for this emerging industry, IQMP partners like Fermilab and PsiQuantum are doubling down to expose young adults who live in communities that lack STEM resources to these concepts and technologies.
Mo Green, head of market development and community affairs for PsiQuantum, the anchor tenant for the IQMP, stressed the importance of developing a diverse pipeline of talent now to support tenant companies.
“You don’t need a Ph.D. to study quantum,” he said. “What you have to have is a thirst for knowledge. There are a plethora of avenues you could take into consideration in terms of career,” he added, listing jobs as power plant operators, and in supply chain and logistics. “Our definition of success is finding a student that went to CPS schools, City Colleges, UIC or Chicago State and, ultimately, finds a career and a pathway at PsiQuantum.”
Declaring “the talent lives here,” on Chicago’s Southeast Side, Dr. Brandon Nichols, senior vice president of academic affairs at Olive Harvey College, encouraged the 43 SMQ* graduates to never stop learning.
“You belong in rooms where discoveries are made, problems are solved, and futures are shaped,” Nichols said. “Whether you pursue physics, engineering, medicine, education, something that you may not have ever imagined, bring that same drive and excellence with the same level of purpose every day.”
Nicolas, 18, a recent graduate of George Washington High School on Chicago’s East Side, said good things came out of the program, including an opportunity for a summer internship with IQMP general contractor Clayco to work on the O’Hare modernization project.
“It really helped me propel forward and progress in my career, and set in stone what I want to do in college,” he said, adding confidently, “I’m going to Loyola for physics and engineering.”
Another student, Phillmore, 17, a graduating senior at Chicago Vocational High school, said he plans to study pre-law. But SMQ* taught him that science and quantum are options.
“There are multiple opportunities everywhere you look in Chicago,” he said. “With this quantum program, I will always know there is space for me, and it’s available to me whenever I need it.”
