By Elisabeth Costanzo Stewart
SUNY Broome is proud to announce that the College’s Hands-On Quantum Education Team came in first place in the Community College Innovation Challenge (CCIC) in Washington, D.C.
Hosted by the American Association of Community Colleges and the National Science Foundation, the CCIC challenges squads of community college students to creatively solve real-world problems with inventive STEM-based solutions. SUNY Broome’s team entered the CCIC with a response to the extreme shortage of a quantum-ready workforce.
After being selected as one of just 12 finalists in May, the team traveled to Washington, alongside their faculty mentor, Robert Lofthouse, Chair of Engineering Science, to participate in the Innovation Challenge Boot Camp. After strengthening their innovation, entrepreneurship, and strategic communication skills, they presented their Hands-On Quantum Education lab to a panel of judges.
Addressing the issue at its core, the team focused on creating a portable, affordable Hands-On Quantum Education lab that offers students hands-on training with light, lasers, and measurement. By creating a compact, transportable optics kit, STEM students can apply theories in lasers and polarization into practical, in-the-field examples of superposition and quantum measurement. The team’s primary goal with the kit is to help students turn abstract concepts into digestible experiential learning without the hard math, ultimately helping to build a larger, highly skilled workforce.
“I am truly proud of our Engineering Science students, Alexandra Bouillon, Vivianna Ricci, Marko Boyko, and Tobias Doak, on this truly outstanding accomplishment,” Dr. Tony D. Hawkins, President of SUNY Broome, said. “Their creative approach to solving a critical workforce pipeline challenge has catapulted SUNY Broome to a national stage as leaders in innovation. More than anything, their Hands-On Quantum Education lab makes learning accessible to the masses, which is at the heart of SUNY Broome’s mission.”
Congratulations to the Portable Quantum Optics Lab Team on this incredibly impressive accomplishment!
Members of the Portable Quantum Optics Lab Team describe their project.
