Institute for Quantum Studies
Matthew Leifer-leifer@chapman.edu
Justin Dressel- dressel@chapman.edu
Kelvin McQueen-mcqueen@chapman.edu
Mordecai Waegell-waegell@chapman.edu
Jeff Tollaksen-tollakse@chapman.edu
Website: quantum.chapman.edu
College: Schmid College of Science and Technology
Overview of scholarly research/creative activity: The mission of the Institute for Quantum Studies is to provide a worldwide focal point for students, researchers, governments, and industries to collaborate on advanced studies of quantum mechanics, including: quantum foundations, quantum information science, quantum computing and technology, and applications thereof to other fields.
Specific projects working on: The Institute produces its own undergraduate research brochure, which details the research of members of the institute and projects that are available for undergraduates. Please request a copy at the expo or email Matthew Leifer.
The Institute is interdisciplinary, with members in physics, philosophy, mathematics and chemistry. You do not have to be a physics major to work with the institute. A fascination with and curiosity about quantum mechanics is the main requirement.
Projects are available at all levels from freshman to senior. The majority of our research projects are theoretical and are typically undertaken in junior or senior years by physics or math majors. The elective courses in Quantum Computation and Philosophy and Foundations of Quantum Mechanics, as well as the core Quantum Mechanics sequence are good preparation for these projects. Experimental projects can be started earlier, and are available in Jerry LaRue's lab in Chemistry or the Advanced Physics Research Lab with Armen Guilian. In addition to research projects, you can do creative activity working on demonstrations and apps to help with outreach and education on quantum mechanics. This is accessible to both physics majors and non-majors and can be started as early as freshman year. Finally, Prof. Kelvin McQueen supervises projects on the philosophy of quantum mechanics in Wilkinson, which are accessible to philosophy majors.
Number of students looking to work with: 3-4
Time commitment for students: Projects are available for a wide variety of time commitments.
When students are needed: Interterm 2021, Spring 2021, Summer 2021
Requirements for students who work with you: Depends on the project and advisor. Some projects require programming/numerical simulation experience, some require a good mathematical background, but some have no requirements apart from interest.
What would students be expected to do: Depending on the project: literature review and analysis, computational simulation, mathematical calculations, experimental work and data collection.