Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Nineteen top international students are at IQC for two weeks of hands-on experience in quantum information research.
The Undergraduate School on Experimental Quantum Information Processing (USEQIP) provides 19 students from universities across North America, Europe and Asia with an inside look at the cutting-edge research being conducted at IQC.
The students, most of whom have just completed their third year of university, will discover how researchers from a broad variety of disciplines are working together to create a new breed of technologies that capitalize on the laws of quantum mechanics.
"We want to give students the total package — in-depth lectures, hands-on experience in the lab, and a fun atmosphere," said Martin Laforest, IQC's manager of scientific outreach. "These students will form the next generation of quantum information researchers, and this summer school was created to give them a comprehensive experience in the field."
The summer school is taught by faculty members and researchers at IQC, with lectures geared toward the physics, mathematics and computer science behind quantum information science. Participants will work in IQC's labs, learning to harness quantum particles to perform computation and communication.
The 19 international students, who were chosen from a field of roughly 100 applicants, will also take part in a variety of social activities, including a quintessentially Canadian game road hockey. The workshop began on May 30 and will wrap up on June 10.
Check out what last year's USEQIP students had to say about their time at IQC: