A Bayside college program that puts community college students inside quantum-technology labs has finished its first year, and the window to join the second one closes on Saturday, October 31. Queensborough Community College says its QUEST for Quantum Future program is now looking for students for its next eight-month run.

The program, formally the QUEST for Quantum Future ExLENT Program, is funded by the National Science Foundation and built to prepare students for jobs in the semiconductor and quantum-technology industries. It is led by Queensborough's Physics Department, under Dr. Wenli Guo, together with the Physics and Chemistry departments of the New York City College of Technology in Downtown Brooklyn, under Dr. Vitaliy Dorogan and Dr. Ivana Radivojevic Jovanovic.

Who it is for

The bar to enter is a science course, not a background in physics research. Applicants need to be STEM students who have finished, or will finish, General Physics I or General Chemistry I at their college. The college says no prior knowledge of semiconductors or quantum technology is required, only interest in the field.

What the first group did

The first cohort spent the program on professional development and workshops covering different corners of the field. In the final stretch the students split by degree track. Those working toward a bachelor's degree did 10-week internships at Quantum Computing Inc., one of the program's industry partners, where one student joined the hardware engineering team to build and test circuit boards for quantum photonics systems and has stayed on with the team this fall.

Students on the associate-degree track went to a research boot camp at City Tech, an introductory quantum computing boot camp at the CUNY Advanced Science Research Center in Manhattan, and short internships with research groups there. Another first-year student described going from a passing mention in a physics lecture to standing inside a nanofabrication facility with the people building the technology.

The year ended on August 28 with Quantum Tech Day, when the students presented their work to the university collaborators and the industry partners. Besides Quantum Computing Inc. and the Advanced Science Research Center, those partners include the chipmaker GlobalFoundries and NY CREATES.

How to apply

The deadline for the second cohort is October 31. Students interested in applying can contact Queensborough's Physics Department, which leads the program; the college's announcement of the second year is linked below.

Queensborough Community College is at 222-05 56th Avenue in Bayside, and its main number is 718-631-6262. The Q27 bus stops on campus on weekdays, and on weekends at 56th Avenue and Springfield Boulevard. The Q74 and Q75 stop at the 56th Avenue entrance, and the Q30 stops at the Horace Harding Expressway and Springfield Boulevard.

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