Physics Education

High School Students Present Science and Engineering Projects at JILA

Steven Burrows — Fri, 24 Apr 2026 15:11:25 +0000

High School Students Present Science and Engineering Projects at JILA Steven Burrows Fri, 04/24/2026 - 09:11

Jessica Hoehn / JILA PFC Director of Public Engagement & Education Research

Eric Cornell talks to a student about their project.

On April 22, 2026, the JILA Physics Frontier Center (PFC) and Partnerships for Informal Science Education in the Community (PISEC) hosted the annual PISEC High School Poster Symposium. 110 students from three different high schools descended on JILA to present posters of science and engineering projects they completed over the course of a semester or year under the guidance of CU mentors. This cornerstone event provides students an opportunity to engage in authentic science communication practices, sharing their work with peers and university researchers. In addition to the poster session, high school students toured research labs in JILA, learning about JILA research and exploring possible future undergraduate opportunities and career paths.

Funded by the National Science Foundation through the JILA PFC, PISEC is a partnership-based community engagement program that connects CU volunteers with local K-12 students to engage in hands-on, inquiry-based science experiments and engineering projects. With programs at the elementary through high school levels, PISEC strives to cultivate youths’ interest in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) and support their STEM identity development. Through mutually beneficial partnerships, the program works to create pathways into STEM disciplines while also supporting the identity and professional development of the university volunteers.

This year, students from Englewood, Northglenn, and Skyline High Schools presented a wide range of projects, from investigating aurora phenomena with a homopolar motor, to creating 3D printed bone scaffolds for tissue engineering, to designing a pedestrian bridge. JILA graduate students, postdocs, and fellows attended the poster session, along with other CU and external community members, making for a lively atmosphere of celebration and connection.

On the heels of PISEC’s 18th year of building and sustaining university-community partnerships, this vibrant symposium underscores JILA’s commitment to community engagement and to supporting the next generation of scientists.

High school students explain their project to poster symposium attendees.

More than 110 students from three Colorado high schools gathered at JILA on April 22, 2026, to present science and engineering projects at the annual PISEC High School Poster Symposium, hosted by the JILA Physics Frontier Center and PISEC. The event offered students hands-on experience in science communication, opportunities to engage with CU researchers, and a firsthand look at JILA research and STEM pathways.

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Q-SEnSE Leads National Quantum Education & Policy Summit, Releases New Workforce Report

Steven Burrows — Wed, 18 Mar 2026 16:16:45 +0000

Q-SEnSE Leads National Quantum Education & Policy Summit, Releases New Workforce Report Steven Burrows Wed, 03/18/2026 - 10:16

Steven Burrows / JILA Science Communications Manager

Last October, the NSF Quantum Leap Challenge Institute for Quantum Systems through Entangled Science and Engineering (Q-SEnSE) co-led the Quantum Education & Policy Summit (QEPS), a national convening focused on strengthening coordination across the U.S. quantum education and workforce ecosystem. The Summit brought together educators, workforce leaders, and partners from academia, industry, and nonprofit organizations to address shared challenges in preparing a diverse and scalable quantum workforce.

Held October 23–24, 2025, at the University of Maryland, QEPS convened 44 participants from 20 states and Washington, D.C., with significant representation from community colleges, technical colleges, and teaching-focused institutions. These institutions play a critical role in training the future quantum workforce but are often underrepresented in national quantum initiatives. The Summit was designed to elevate their perspectives and foster collaboration across regions and institution types.

Q-SEnSE organized the event in collaboration with the NSF Quantum Leap Challenge Institutes for Robust Quantum Simulations (RQS) and Hybrid Quantum Architectures and Networks (HQAN), alongside the Chicago Quantum Exchange (CQE). The Summit was supported by the National Science Foundation and the Quantum Economic Development Consortium (QED-C), with additional partnership from regional quantum organizations including Elevate Quantum, The Bloch Quantum, and South Carolina Quantum.

This week, coinciding with the APS Annual Meeting, the QEPS organizing team released a new report that captures the Summit’s key discussion themes and participant-driven recommendations. The report identifies persistent gaps in national coordination, systemic support, and industry engagement, while highlighting opportunities to better connect regional efforts and expand access to quantum education pathways.

“This event took a tremendous effort from partners across the entire country,” said Dr. Michael Bennett, NSF Q-SEnSE Director of Education and the PI on the project. “The purpose of the Summit was to facilitate field-wide collaboration, and we could not have asked for better partners to bring that purpose to fruition. We have an opportunity to shape the quantum education field for the better right at the start, but only by working collaboratively.”

Together, the findings and recommendations offer guidance for policymakers, funders, and ecosystem leaders working to build a more coordinated, inclusive, and sustainable quantum education and workforce landscape. The report reflects a shared commitment to ensuring that the growth of the quantum field draws on talent from across the country and across the full range of educational pathways.

View the report here.

The QEPS report is based on work supported by the National Science Foundation under award numbers 2016244 and 2534943. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

Last October, Q-SEnSE co-led a national Quantum Education & Policy Summit bringing together educators, workforce leaders, and partners from across the U.S. to strengthen coordination in quantum education and workforce development. Released this week alongside the APS Annual Meeting, a new report distills the Summit’s findings and recommendations for building a more inclusive, connected, and sustainable quantum workforce ecosystem.

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Building the quantum workforce of the future: A new study seeks the way

Steven Burrows — Wed, 08 Oct 2025 17:28:39 +0000

Building the quantum workforce of the future: A new study seeks the way Steven Burrows Wed, 10/08/2025 - 11:28

Daniel Strain / ��Ҵ�ý�ƽ�� Strategic Communications

In recent years, quantum technology companies have begun to pop up across the United States. These companies design technologies that tap into some of the unique properties of very small things like atoms and electrons. Such technologies include “quantum computers” that could one day discover previously unknown medications, or sensors that can detect signs of illness in a single puff of breath. But the growth of the industry also raises a major question, said physicist Heather Lewandowski, one of the project leads: How can the nation better prepare students to enter this uncharted industry?

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Creating a Global Map of Different Physics Laboratory Classes

Steven Burrows — Fri, 13 Dec 2024 19:59:50 +0000

Creating a Global Map of Different Physics Laboratory Classes Steven Burrows Fri, 12/13/2024 - 12:59

Kenna Hughes-Castleberry / JILA Science Communicator

World map of number of survey responses. Shown on a log scale, each colored country has at least one response; countries in gray have no responses. Credit: Steven Burrows / JILA

To better understand these differences, JILA Fellow and University of Colorado Boulder physics professor Heather Lewandowski and a group of international collaborators are working towards creating a global taxonomy, a classification system that could create a more equitable way to compare these courses. Their findings were recently published in Physical Review Physics Education Research.

With a global taxonomy, instructors can have a more precise roadmap for navigating and improving their courses, leading to a brighter future for physics education worldwide.

“The ultimate taxonomy will help education researchers both understand physics lab education broadly and also be able to compare and contrast studies done around the world,” says Lewandowski.

An International Need for Global Mapping

According to Gayle Geschwind, the paper’s first author and a recently graduated JILA Ph.D. researcher, the project began as an international conversation between physicists who realized that comparing lab course assessments was not always straightforward.

“It can be hard for instructors to get useful information,” said Geschwind. “For example, a sophomore-level course can’t easily be compared to an introductory one, but right now, that’s often the only data available for comparison. Lab courses vary in how they're taught, the methods they use, and the equipment the students can interact with. And these lab courses are expensive; some use nice equipment, others aren’t able to.”

This mismatch prompted the researchers to develop a method that will eventually result in a database of the many different laboratory courses for physics across the globe.

Starting with Surveys

The team’s first task was to build a robust survey to capture how lab courses are structured worldwide. The researchers started with a brainstorming session that was then refined into a more extensive survey to address course content, the kinds of equipment available, and how students were assessed.

Once the survey was ready, the team interviewed instructors from 23 countries to ensure the questions were clear and applicable to different educational systems. From these early interviews, Geschwind, Lewandowski, and their collaborators improved their survey. While the earlier editions had options for instructors to put in the major and minor goals of the course, based on the feedback from the interviews, the team decided to add an option for a future goal, where an instructor could add other techniques students could learn in the future.

Along with the improvements to their survey, Lewandowski and Geschwind found a challenge early on in the phrasing of some of the survey questions.

Geschwind shared a telling anecdote: “Heather and I spent three or four hours on one question’s wording about how many students are in each lab section... It turns out ‘lab section’ doesn’t mean the same thing outside the U.S., and eventually, we had to phrase the question very creatively to get our point across.”

Beyond the language issues, the team discovered surprising differences in lab structures. In some countries, labs might meet daily for two weeks rather than weekly throughout the semester. Other differences were more extreme, like an interviewee based in Africa who shared that students sometimes had to “stick screwdrivers into electrical outlets” just to see if the power was on that day—a stark contrast to the well-equipped labs in wealthier nations.

Finding the General Themes

After finalizing the survey through an iterative process of interviews and revisions, the team sent it to their network of lab instructors, asking them to complete it and share it with others. While the researchers initially gathered responses primarily from Western Europe and the U.S., they soon expanded their efforts by compiling a list of every country and cold-mailing institutions worldwide. To their surprise, they received many responses, including from regions historically underrepresented in STEM, helping enrich the global database of physics lab courses.

From the survey responses, the researchers found some prominent initial themes. Across the board, lab courses emphasized technical skills and group work. Geschwind was fascinated by the fact that “an introductory mechanics lab course doesn’t differ much from place to place” despite the variety in equipment and resources.

Another interesting result was about the number of learning goals instructors have for their students in the courses. On average, instructors identified nearly 12 distinct goals per course, highlighting the complex nature of laboratory environments as part of courses designed to foster a broad range of knowledge and skill development.

Perhaps one of the survey's most unexpected outcomes was its immediate impact on the instructors who took it. Many began rethinking their own courses during the process.

“They’d see something in the survey and go, ‘Oh, that’s a cool idea! We don’t do that, but I’d love to implement it,’ ” Geschwind noted.

In fact, the survey even included links to resources and best practices that participants could explore, making it a research tool and a learning opportunity for the instructors.

Creating a More Thorough Map

Looking ahead, the research team has big plans for their data. The ultimate goal is to create a global database of lab courses, and standardized categorization of these courses, that can help instructors compare and improve their teaching methods. Geschwind explained that this database could be beneficial for instructors who want to redesign their courses, as it would allow them to see what others are doing in similar classes worldwide.

“We eventually want to get this database of information...so if an instructor wants to restructure their electronics course, they can see what others are doing,” she added.

The project is currently unfunded, with most of the team volunteering their time, but that hasn’t stopped them from envisioning future developments. Geschwind suggested that in the future, the team could use clustering algorithms to group similar courses and identify trends, such as whether certain types of lab courses, e.g., second-year electronics labs, unexpectedly share similarities with others, such as senior-level quantum labs.

As the project progresses, the team hopes to gather more data, particularly from underrepresented regions, to make the taxonomy even more comprehensive.

“Eventually, this could lead to better assessments and more informed teaching practices, making physics lab education stronger globally,” Geschwind said.

This research was supported by the National Science Foundation.

Physics lab courses are vital to science education, providing hands-on experience and technical skills that lectures can’t offer. Yet, it’s challenging for those in Physics Education Research (PER) to compare course to course, especially since these courses vary wildly worldwide.

To better understand these differences, JILA Fellow and University of Colorado Boulder physics professor Heather Lewandowski and a group of international collaborators are working towards creating a global taxonomy, a classification system that could create a more equitable way to compare these courses. Their findings were recently published in Physical Review Physics Education Research.

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Governor Jared Polis Visits JILA to Sign Quantum Tax Credit Bill

Steven Burrows — Thu, 30 May 2024 17:14:45 +0000

Governor Jared Polis Visits JILA to Sign Quantum Tax Credit Bill Steven Burrows Thu, 05/30/2024 - 11:14

Kenna Hughes-Castleberry / JILA Science Communicator

Colorado General Assembly Representative Alex Valdez (right) watches as Colorado Governor Jared Polis signs the Quantum Tax Credit Bill

Yesterday, Governor Jared Polis made a historic visit to JILA, a joint institute established by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the University of Colorado Boulder, to sign the recently passed Quantum Tax Credit Bill. This legislation aims to incentivize the adoption and development of quantum technology within Colorado, solidifying the state's position as a leader in this cutting-edge field.

The bill passed its third reading in the state Senate earlier in May without any amendments, demonstrating strong bipartisan support for Colorado's quantum technology ecosystem. The legislation includes a $44 million investment in refundable state income tax credits to develop a shared quantum research facility designed for private sector and academic collaboration.

The Colorado Office of Economic Development will manage the distribution of the tax credits, with provisions for preliminary and final reviews of applications, project certifications, and periodic reporting to the Colorado General Assembly. This structured approach aims to ensure transparency and optimize the incentives' implementation.

Of the $44 million state investment, $29 million is earmarked specifically to build a University Quantum Incubator, led by ��Ҵ�ý�ƽ��, in partnership with other Colorado research universities and industry partners. This incubator will be co-located with the Elevate Quantum Lab/Fab. This initiative is expected to create 10,000 high-paying jobs in the region.

“Colorado is really about creating the industries of the future right here,” Polis stated. “The future of computing is quantum technology. And there's a whole supply chain associated with that, from the cryogenic side to the laser side, there's a whole value chain. Having that here in Colorado makes us the best place for quantum companies of all sizes for startups through the deployment stage, now and in the future.”

The bill follows Colorado’s designation last October as a Regional Technology and Innovation Hub focused on advancing quantum technology. Elevate Quantum, a consortium of over 70 organizations, including JILA, ��Ҵ�ý�ƽ��, NIST, state and local governments, federal labs, and private companies, was instrumental in securing this designation. JILA and ��Ҵ�ý�ƽ�� play a pivotal role in Elevate Quantum, competing with other states for up to $70 million in federal funding to further develop a state quantum technology hub.

As a well-known ecosystem for quantum research, Colorado is projected to generate more than $1 billion in economic impact and create thousands of jobs statewide in the technology sector, many stemming from institutes like ��Ҵ�ý�ƽ�� and JILA.

Governor Polis' visit to JILA, a renowned research institution for quantum physics, underscores the collaborative effort between academia, industry, and government to propel Colorado to the forefront of quantum technology. As JILA has made a name for itself as a leader in quantum physics research (with over 70% of its principal investigators studying quantum physics), it makes an appropriate location for signing this important bill.

“This bill will support the construction of a state-of-the-art quantum technology incubator, a facility that is poised to be unique in the world and that will set our state apart,” said Massimo Ruzzene, vice chancellor for research and innovation and dean of the institutes at the University of Colorado Boulder. “It will foster the translation of technology and catalyze innovation, expanding educational and workforce opportunities while also creating jobs and economic benefits for all of Colorado.”

On Tuesday, May 28th, Governor Jared Polis made a historic visit to JILA, a joint institute established by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the University of Colorado Boulder, to sign the recently passed Quantum Tax Credit Bill. This legislation aims to incentivize the adoption and development of quantum technology within Colorado, solidifying the state's position as a leader in this cutting-edge field.

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JILA Participates in the Inaugural NSF Quantum Showcase on Capitol Hill

Steven Burrows — Mon, 13 May 2024 17:21:00 +0000

JILA Participates in the Inaugural NSF Quantum Showcase on Capitol Hill Steven Burrows Mon, 05/13/2024 - 11:21

Kenna Hughes-Castleberry / JILA Science Communicator

(L to R): JILA Fellow and ��Ҵ�ý�ƽ�� Physics professor Heather Lewandowski and NSF Director Dr. Sethuraman Panchanathan listen as JILA graduate student Qizhong Liang explains some of the quantum research happening at JILA.

To highlight the pivotal role of federal funding in advancing quantum research, the National Science Foundation (NSF) hosted its inaugural Quantum Showcase on Capitol Hill two weeks ago. The event highlighted the potential of government-funded quantum initiatives and included NSF-funded quantum researchers nationwide. JILA, a joint institute between the University of Colorado Boulder and NIST, was represented at the event by JILA Fellow and University of Colorado Boulder Physics Professor Heather Lewandowski and JILA graduate student Qizhong Liang, a member of JILA and NIST Fellow Jun Ye’s research group.

With support from the CU system Office of Government Relations, Lewandowski and Liang also met with staff from Colorado’s congressional delegation during their day at the Capitol to discuss the university's quantum strengths and priorities.

The NSF’s showcase featured a variety of ongoing programs nationwide, emphasizing their potential influences on future technology and global competitiveness. The event heavily focused on bridging quantum research and theory with real-world applications, giving audiences of all backgrounds, including policymakers and their staff, something to look forward to.

During the event, lawmakers, including those leading the U.S. House’s Science, Space, and Technology Committee, directly engaged with participants like Lewandowski and Liang and emphasized the importance of quantum research, including passing the National Quantum Initiative Reauthorization Act, legislation designed to advance quantum science and technology in the U.S. NSF Director Dr. Sethuraman Panchanathan spoke directly to Liang and Lewandowski as they highlighted the ongoing NSF-sponsored innovations happening at JILA, including a novel research project focusing on laser combs.

“The laser breathalyzer we built for detecting COVID-19 is the first demonstration of how optical frequency combs, a Nobel-winning laser technology born in JILA, can be used in non-invasive medical diagnostics,” Liang elaborates. “We are thrilled to see how many other medical conditions, including asthma, lung cancer, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, can potentially be simultaneously detected simply by measuring the exhaled breath molecular contents in a non-invasive, low-cost, and real-time manner.”

Scott Sternberg, Executive Director of the CUbit Quantum Initiative, a partnership between ��Ҵ�ý�ƽ��, JILA/NIST, and industry, was also on Capitol Hill for a Quantum Stakeholders Day, and stopped by the showcase.

The timing of this inaugural showcase is notable, as Colorado has become one of the nation's key hubs for quantum research and industry in the last twenty years. Institutions like JILA, NIST, and ��Ҵ�ý�ƽ�� are crucial to this Front Range hub. ��Ҵ�ý�ƽ�� Physics department, of which many faculty are also JILA Fellows, consistently ranks highly among the top ten universities for its quantum physics program, attracting top talent for the next generation of the quantum workforce.

At JILA, the collaborative environment and cutting-edge facilities help drive advancements in quantum computing, sensing, communication, and more, contributing to the nation’s quantum ecosystem. JILA also hosts three NSF-funded science centers within the Institute, including the Physics Frontier Center; Quantum Systems through Entangled Science and Engineering (Q-SEnSE), an NSF Quantum Leap Challenge Institute; and STROBE, an NSF Science and Technology Center (STC). These NSF-supported centers are key in advancing novel quantum research happening within the institute.

The centers also play a crucial role in educating the next generation of quantum scientists and engineers. Programs like the Quantum Forge course at ��Ҵ�ý�ƽ�� aim to equip students with the skills and knowledge needed to tackle the challenges of quantum technology, fostering a diverse and highly skilled workforce.

At the government level, quantum educational initiatives are gaining momentum as policymakers recognize the importance of preparing a skilled workforce for the quantum era. Programs like the 2022 QIST (Quantum Information Science and Technology) Workforce Development Plan, the National Q-12 Education Partnership (which exposes K-12 schools to more quantum education tools), or the ExpandQISE, an NSF-funded program specifically focused on educating students from underrepresented backgrounds in quantum technology and engineering aim to accelerate the development of quantum technologies through targeted investments in education, training, and workforce development.

These initiatives prioritize collaboration between government agencies, academia, and industry to ensure students and professionals access cutting-edge quantum education and training programs. Events like the NSF showcase serve as critical platforms to highlight the real-world use cases of government-funded quantum research, where advocates like Lewandowski and Liang can emphasize the importance of this sustained investment by the U.S. government.

“It was a great opportunity to highlight the exciting science and education efforts happening at JILA and CU broadly,” Lewandowski explains, “We were able to engage with a large variety of congressional staffers about the importance of NSF-sponsored research and education efforts.”

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JILA and The University of Colorado Boulder Physics Department Set to Host 2025 Conference for Undergraduate Women and Gender Minorities in Physics

Steven Burrows — Fri, 05 Apr 2024 17:42:25 +0000

JILA and The University of Colorado Boulder Physics Department Set to Host 2025 Conference for Undergraduate Women and Gender Minorities in Physics Steven Burrows Fri, 04/05/2024 - 11:42

Kenna Hughes-Castleberry / JILA Science Communicator

JILA and ��Ҵ�ý�ƽ��'s Physics Department are set to host the 2025 CU*iP conference through APS

The three-day regional conferences are sponsored by the American Physical Society (APS) and held annually at select institutions around the country. They are designed to provide professional development opportunities for undergraduate women and gender minorities through networking, keynote speakers, career advice, and graduate school sessions.

“CU*iP conferences have been transformational for many women in STEM careers, and we are thrilled to be able to bring these experiences to our local undergraduate students,” said Bethany Wilcox, assistant professor of physics and chair of the local organizing committee. “In addition to supporting the next, diverse generation of physicists, this conference also provides community to the women and gender minorities already contributing to STEM fields and brings attention to the unique challenges these individuals face within the field while also providing practical tools and strategies for overcoming them.”

The conference in Boulder will be co-hosted by the Department of Physics and JILA, a joint institute between ��Ҵ�ý�ƽ�� and the National Institute of Standards and Technology. Highlighting ��Ҵ�ý�ƽ�� close partnerships with national laboratories and local industry, the conference will connect attendees with all the area has to offer.

“It’s wonderful that ��Ҵ�ý�ƽ�� has been selected by the American Physical Society to host the 2025 CU*iP conference, following a successful conference here in 2017,” said Tobin Munsat, professor and chair of physics. “This is a terrific opportunity for professional development and networking for undergraduate women and gender minorities. Members of the local organizing committee are putting in an extraordinary amount of work to make the conference an engaging and valuable experience, and the Department of Physics is proud to be a part of it.”

The local organizing committee includes a highly motivated and dedicated group of undergraduate students, graduate students, postdocs, staff, and faculty. The committee is planning a variety of activities including plenary talks, facilitated discussions, social gatherings, poster sessions, and tours of local research institutions.

Several members of the local organizing committee attended CU*iP as an undergraduate and found it to be a very impactful experience. After attending CU*iP as an undergrad, physics graduate student Iona Binnie was inspired to improve access for underrepresented students through departmental initiatives and outreach. Binnie is now serving as a member of the local organizing committee for the 2025 CU*iP in Boulder.

“CU*iP played a large role in my undergraduate career in physics and in my decision to attend grad school,” said Binnie. “As a first-year undergrad, CU*iP was an opportunity to connect with female role models in physics and see a path for myself through a challenging major. The conference gave me the confidence and inspiration to continue with physics and connected me with a larger world of research that would have been hard to access otherwise.”

Read the full article on the ��Ҵ�ý�ƽ�� Physics Department website.

Building on efforts to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion in physics, ��Ҵ�ý�ƽ�� Department of Physics and JILA will host a Conference for Undergraduate Women and Gender Minorities in Physics (CU*iP) in January 2025. The conference will bring approximately 150 students from the Midwest region to Boulder.

The three-day regional conferences are sponsored by the American Physical Society (APS) and held annually at select institutions around the country. They are designed to provide professional development opportunities for undergraduate women and gender minorities through networking, keynote speakers, career advice, and graduate school sessions.

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JILA’s Physics Frontiers (PFC) is Awarded a $25 Million Grant by the National Science Foundation (NSF)

Steven Burrows — Tue, 12 Sep 2023 21:31:40 +0000

JILA’s Physics Frontiers (PFC) is Awarded a $25 Million Grant by the National Science Foundation (NSF) Steven Burrows Tue, 09/12/2023 - 15:31

Kenna Hughes-Castleberry / JILA Science Communicator

A compilation of researchers and the research/outreach led by JILA's PFC

This science center brings together 20 researchers across JILA to collaborate to realize precise measurements and cutting-edge manipulations to harness increasingly complex quantum systems. Since its establishment in 2006, the JILA PFC’s dedication to advancing quantum research and educating the next generation of scientists has helped it to stand out as the heart of JILA’s excellence.

Origins and Foundation:

It was JILA Fellow Carl Lineberger who initially conceived the PFC. Arriving at JILA in 1968 as a postdoctoral researcher for JILA Fellow and founder Lewis Branscomb, Lineberger witnessed many changes happen at JILA throughout its decades of science. In the early 1970s, as Branscomb was looking to leave JILA, Lineberger realized that Branscomb’s departure could lead to funding constraints for JILA.

“It was really only Lou and me who knew how to get money for JILA at that time, as we both were the only ones with the strongest links to the Department of Defense (DoD),” Lineberger stated, referring to his own service in the military before arriving at JILA. “We figured that the DoD was the best place to look, as this was during the Vietnam War. The state of Colorado was in severe financial trouble, and they could not help JILA, so we had to get money outside of the university. And I knew all the people in defense and the National Science Foundation who were important for funding where no one else did.”

In the wake of Branscomb’s departure in 1972, Lineberger began thinking about leveraging his network to secure JILA funding.

It wasn’t until the mid-1970s when Lineberger led the effort to draft the first group grant for many quantum researchers within JILA, as JILA’s astrophysicists had already secured funding. This grant began a new era in research at JILA, allowing scientists to push the boundaries of knowledge and explore uncharted territories in physics.

After proposing an extensive collaboration between several JILA scientists, the team submitted their application. Then they waited nervously, as group grants were highly unusual during the 1970s, and the scientists weren’t sure if the NSF would accept it. In fact, the NSF funded this initial group grant and would continue to renew JILA’s funding till the early 2000s when the NSF decided to restructure the group grant altogether.

“It’s tough for the NSF to compare a group grant to an individual scientist’s work,” explained JILA and NIST Fellow Eric Cornell, a Nobel Laureate who served as the PFC Director for over a decade. “You can’t really compare the two applications.”

The NSF decided to institute a new grant type to overcome this challenge, as other institutes also submitted group applications. In 2001, several PFCs were established with the NSF’s new grant structure. However, it wouldn’t be until 2006 that JILA’s group grant was transformed into an official PFC. “It was 50% luck and 50% opportunity,” added Lineberger.

The vision behind the PFC was to bring together researchers from diverse backgrounds to collaborate on projects that transcend traditional disciplinary boundaries. “Carl Lineberger took very seriously the idea that JILA should always be renewing itself,” Cornell added. “What that meant is it shouldn’t always be the same people always running the show.”

To implement this thought, Lineberger transitioned out of the role as the first PFC Director and passed the torch to Cornell, who became the next director in the mid-2000s.

Furthering in this spirit, Cornell just recently handed over the torch to current co-directors Ana Maria Rey and Andreas Becker. The co-directors, together with, JILA Fellows Eric Cornell, Cindy Regal, Jun Ye, and Heather Lewandowski form the executive committee that will lead and manage the Center for the next six years.

The Structure of the PFC:

While the PFC includes about 20 JILA researchers, it is led by a much smaller executive committee. “We sometimes call it an oligarchy,” stated Cornell. “As the executive committee decides things by consensus, the Director is not especially important. However, the NSF does need a point of contact for the grant, so the Director does play a role in government relations.”

Interdisciplinary Collaboration:

One of the distinguishing features of the PFC is its commitment to fostering interdisciplinary collaboration. By bringing together physicists, chemists, biologists, and other scientific experts, the PFC enables a unique environment for innovation and cross-pollination of ideas. The center encourages researchers to step outside their comfort zones and tackle complex scientific challenges from multiple perspectives, leading to breakthrough discoveries that would be difficult to achieve in isolation.

“The JILA PFC, in my point of view, is the spinal cord of JILA,” explained Rey. “The reason is that the Center serves as a connecting tissue among JILA investigators with different but complementary research interests. We all understand the added value of the Center and are excited about the scientific barriers we can overcome as a team. We are willing to take risks and commit to very challenging problems that have long-term horizons which are only possible by the joint and synergistic capabilities of the investigators.”

Milestones and Breakthroughs:

Over the years, the PFC and JILA’s group grant before it, have embarked on numerous research projects that have pushed the boundaries of physics. From exploring the properties of ultracold molecules to developing advanced precision measurement techniques, the PFC has consistently been at the forefront of pioneering research. Researchers at the center have significantly contributed to areas such as quantum information science, atomic and molecular physics, quantum optics, ultrafast science, and condensed matter physics.

The PFC has achieved several significant milestones and breakthroughs throughout its history. In ultracold physics, JILA Fellows, including Cornell and Carl Wieman, won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2001 for creating the first Bose-Einstein Condensate—a remarkable state of matter with extraordinary properties. This groundbreaking achievement opened up new avenues for exploring quantum phenomena and laid the foundation for subsequent research in ultracold physics.

Another notable milestone came in 2008 when the PFC researchers developed an atomic clock that was accurate to within one second every 300 million years. This achievement revolutionized timekeeping technology and led to advancements in global positioning systems (GPS), telecommunication networks, and fundamental tests of the laws of physics.

That same year PFC investigators Deborah Jin, Jun Ye, and John Bohn, with input from David Nesbitt, prepared the first high-space-density KRb molecular gas, by combining trapping and cooling methods with frequency comb spectroscopy. This development set the stage for impressive investigations on quantum chemistry and many-body physics which are currently generating even richer and faster worldwide developments.

The PFC has also made significant strides in quantum information science. In 2017, JILA scientists successfully created a long-lived quantum memory for photons, a crucial step towards developing quantum computers and secure quantum communication networks. These advancements have the potential to revolutionize computing and information processing, opening up a new era of technology.

Furthermore, the PFC helped to push forward many new ideas in the development of ultrafast lasers, a technology used collaboratively in many PFC labs. Most recently, the path towards polarization control of ultrashort laser light pulses over a broad wavelength regime, led by PFC investigators Margaret Murnane and Henry Kapteyn, was supported using PFC funds.

“As the years passed,” Cornell explained, “the amount of money given by the NSF for the PFC got smaller and smaller due to inflation.” However, the slack in funding was taken up by individual grants for each scientist. While this group grant once was a more significant source of JILA’s funding, it has now become less so as other organizations, such as the Department of Energy, fund JILA.

“While the money is useful, the PFC has become greater than the sum of its parts,” Cornell stated. “It’s much more of a way to keep us thinking about research collaborations and to wish each other well in our projects. It’s about making it a place that good students want to come to and good staff wants to stay at.”

For Rey and Becker, the feeling is similar. “We are nevertheless excited and proud to report that in this re-competition, in contrast to prior ones, NSF provides an increase of the JILA PFC budget,” said Rey. “This is exciting and will allow us to attract an even larger poll of fantastic and productive students and postdocs and undertake broader outreach activities that will benefit our community.”

The PFC’s Influence on the JILA Community

When examining how the PFC has impacted JILA’s community and culture, JILA’s Chief Operations Officer Beth Kroger agreed with Cornell. “The NSF PFC funding enables JILA to provide critical infrastructure in support of the transformational research done at JILA,” she stated. “A key component of JILA’s infrastructure is the JILA Shops which include Scientific Instrument Design/Fabrication, Electronics Design/Fabrication and Computing, as well user facilities such as our Metrology Lab, Clean Room, and student workshops. The JILA Shops are instrumental in advancing research and providing mentoring and hands-on applied learning for scientists-in-training. This is just one example of the impact of the PFC.”

Educating Future Leaders

The PFC's contributions to the field of physics extend beyond groundbreaking discoveries. It has nurtured generations of scientists, providing an environment fostering creativity, collaboration, and scientific excellence. The center has trained numerous graduate students and postdoctoral researchers, equipping them with the knowledge and skills to make a lasting impact in their respective fields.

“During the next PFC grant period we plan to initiate new training and mentoring programs at JILA which should further help our graduate students and postdocs in preparing them for their future careers in academia and industry”, said Becker.

Furthermore, a key part of the PFC has been its outreach program, PISEC, or “Partnerships for Informal Science Education in the Community”. A semester-long afterschool program where CU volunteers work with K-12 students on inquiry-based physics experiments. It is mainly targeted to students from underrepresented groups in STEM: primarily Hispanic/Latinx with low income. The goal is to cultivate in the students involved an interest in science, and facilitate pathways into STEM degrees.

PISEC is a very important part of the JILA-PFC. Jessica Hoehn is the current full-time PFC director for public engagement. She in collaboration with executive member Heather Lewandowski and Eric Cornell are envisioning exciting new directions in which the PISEC can further expand and become even better during this funding period.

Thanks to the $25 million grant awarded to JILA’s PFC, its vision and ongoing projects can continue to push the boundaries of quantum science and influence JILA’s culture, community, students, and postdoctoral researchers.

The JILA Physics Frontiers Center (PFC), an NSF-funded science center within JILA (a world-leading physics research institute), has recently been awarded a $25 million grant after a re-competition process.

This science center brings together 20 researchers across JILA to collaborate to realize precise measurements and cutting-edge manipulations to harness increasingly complex quantum systems. Since its establishment in 2006, the JILA PFC’s dedication to advancing quantum research and educating the next generation of scientists has helped it to stand out as the heart of JILA’s excellence.

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JILA Fellow and University of Colorado Boulder Physics Professor Heather Lewandowski interviewed by Colorado 9News

Steven Burrows — Tue, 25 Jul 2023 22:20:37 +0000

JILA Fellow and University of Colorado Boulder Physics Professor Heather Lewandowski interviewed by Colorado 9News Steven Burrows Tue, 07/25/2023 - 16:20

Kenna Hughes-Castleberry / JILA Science Communicator

Colorado 9News recently interviewed JILA Fellow and University of Colorado Boulder physics professor Heather Lewandowski as she discussed a recent paper with over 1,000 authors. This recent paper, published in the Astrophysical Journal, focused on solving the mystery of the Sun's corona, a ring of significantly hotter temperatures surrounding the Sun compared to its core. Lewandowski recruited over 1,000 undergraduate students as researchers to study this phenomenon as they analyzed data from observations of the corona. The entire project took multiple years and culminated in over 56,000 hours of research. In the 9News interview, Lewandowski stated: "It's really important for us to understand our Sun because it has a large impact on Earth."

While Lewandowski's main research focuses on quantum physics, this research project began during the COVID-19 pandemic when a colleague reached out with a unique opportunity: involving the students in actual astrophysical research. Lewandowski, who also focuses on physics education research (PER), jumped at the chance. "We thought, wouldn't it be great if we could have them [the students] do actual research?" She explained in the 9News interview. From there, Lewandowski involved over 1,000 undergraduate students in the research process, resulting in a paper with over 1,000 authors. "They were really beginning to feel like scientists," Lewandowski added in the 9News interview. "They really appreciated the process of science. It was really exciting to see that excitement from the students over three semesters."

Colorado 9News recently interviewed JILA Fellow and University of Colorado Boulder physics professor Heather Lewandowski as she discussed a recent paper with over 1,000 authors. This recent paper, published in the Astrophysical Journal, focused on solving the mystery of the Sun's corona, a ring of significantly hotter temperatures surrounding the Sun compared to its core. Lewandowski recruited over 1,000 undergraduate students as researchers to study this phenomenon as they analyzed data from observations of the corona. The entire project took multiple years and culminated in over 56,000 hours of research. In the 9News interview, Lewandowski stated: "It's really important for us to understand our Sun because it has a large impact on Earth."

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JILA Fellow Heather Lewandowski's research highlighted in "Popular Science" Magazine

Steven Burrows — Wed, 17 May 2023 17:20:43 +0000

JILA Fellow Heather Lewandowski's research highlighted in "Popular Science" Magazine Steven Burrows Wed, 05/17/2023 - 11:20

Kenna Hughes-Castleberry / JILA Science Communicator

Coronal loops on the sun are captured in ultraviolet light using the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) instrument on NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory

JILA Fellow and University of Colorado physics professor Heather Lewandowski helped lead a group of more than 1,000 undergraduate students in a study looking at the temperatures of the Sun's corona. The corona, the outer layer, gets incredibly hot, and the study hoped to figure out why. Their research was featured in Popular Science Magazine, revealing the creativity and ingenuity of undergraduate students in scientific research.

“The question of why the sun’s corona is so much hotter than the ‘surface’ of the sun is one of the main outstanding questions in solar physics,” says Lewandowski in the article.

With their results published in the Astrophysical Journal, the study allowed undergraduates to participate in scientific research, gaining skills and experience that would help their future careers.

JILA Fellow and University of Colorado physics professor Heather Lewandowski helped lead a group of more than 1,000 undergraduate students in a study looking at the temperatures of the Sun's corona. The corona, the outer layer, gets incredibly hot, and the study hoped to figure out why. Their research was featured in Popular Science Magazine, revealing the creativity and ingenuity of undergraduate students in scientific research.

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