URI Students Teach Quantum Computing At Brookhaven National Laboratory

University of Rhode Island students are helping teach Brookhaven National Laboratory’s Quantum Information Science 101 course, mentoring college students as they learn quantum computing concepts and programming with IBM Qiskit. The partnership gives URI students experience as both course participants and teaching assistants, while connecting the university’s quantum programs with a U.S. Department of Energy research laboratory.

Morgan Beck, who graduated from URI in the spring with degrees in physics and applied mathematics, first took Brookhaven’s six-week virtual course as an undergraduate. She later returned as a teaching assistant after Brookhaven staff member and course professor David Biersach invited her to help other students. Beck had studied black hole systems for a URI College of Arts and Sciences fellowship project.

Other URI students have also served as teaching assistants. The report identifies quantum computing master’s student Matt Sarsam and fifth-year physics Ph.D. student Luke Ellert-Beck as mentors who drew on their URI studies. Sarsam and Ellert-Beck did not take QIS101 as students, according to the report. URI graduate students Emory Salaun and Austin Higinbotham, along with physics major Logan Cote, have recently taken the course as students.

QIS101 includes discussions and lectures with quantum scientists and Brookhaven researchers, as well as hands-on programming. Students learn to use IBM Qiskit, software for working with quantum computers. Sarsam described helping students review coding assignments as a central part of his teaching role, including explaining where code works and where it may not generalize to other problems.

Training Quantum Students Through Teaching

The arrangement combines technical instruction with peer mentoring. URI students who have worked through quantum computing coursework can help classmates at Brookhaven interpret difficult concepts and programming tasks, while gaining practice explaining those ideas. Beck said she learned from students’ different approaches to quantum problems as she taught them.

URI Physics Department Chair Leonard Kahn said students had reported accelerated learning through the course and their work as teaching assistants. That is the university’s assessment of the experience; the source does not cite a formal evaluation or measure of learning outcomes. Still, the program offers a practical route for students to deepen subject knowledge by teaching it and to engage with researchers outside their home institution.

The collaboration also creates a working link between a university and a national laboratory. Kahn said such connections matter amid federal research and funding guidance that encourages interaction between universities and national labs. For students, that relationship can provide exposure to a research setting and a broader group of peers studying quantum information science.

From QIS101 Student to Teaching Assistant

Beck’s experience illustrates how the partnership developed. As a URI sophomore, she enrolled in Brookhaven’s virtual six-week QIS101 course. Brookhaven’s Biersach later asked her to return as a teaching assistant, and her participation helped prompt further URI involvement in the program, according to the university’s account.

Brookhaven is a U.S. Department of Energy laboratory in Upton, New York. Its QIS101 course introduces students to quantum computing and programming through lectures and practical exercises. The reported URI participants have joined in different ways: some first learned through the course and then mentored others, while Sarsam and Ellert-Beck served as teaching assistants using knowledge developed in URI quantum programs.

“I learned just as much from the students during that time as they did from me.”

— Morgan Beck, URI graduate and former Brookhaven teaching assistant

Program Scale and Outcomes

The report does not specify how many URI students have participated in QIS101 overall, how often the course runs, or whether URI will send students to every future session. It also does not provide a formal assessment comparing learning outcomes for course participants and teaching assistants.

URI faculty describe the partnership as supporting student learning and strengthening institutional ties, but the source does not detail a separate research project, funding award, or new lab collaboration that resulted from the program. The extent to which student participation will lead to further quantum research or education initiatives remains unclear.

Further Collaboration Remains Open

The report describes an established pattern of URI students taking QIS101 and serving as teaching assistants, but it does not announce dates for a future course or a specific next milestone. The immediate next step is continued participation through the course, as arranged by the university and Brookhaven.

Kahn said the student interaction has reinforced the relationship between the institutions. Whether that connection will lead to additional joint research, new education programs, or formal commitments has not been announced. Further details would be needed to assess how the collaboration develops beyond the current course and mentoring work.

Key Questions

What are URI students doing at Brookhaven National Laboratory?

URI students are taking part in Brookhaven’s Quantum Information Science 101 course, either as learners or as teaching assistants who mentor college students studying quantum computing.

What does the Brookhaven course teach?

QIS101 covers quantum computing concepts and programming, including practical work with IBM Qiskit. The course also features lectures and discussions with quantum scientists and Brookhaven researchers.

Which URI students are mentioned as teaching assistants?

The report names Morgan Beck, Matt Sarsam and Luke Ellert-Beck. Beck took QIS101 as a student before returning to teach; Sarsam and Ellert-Beck served as teaching assistants using knowledge from URI’s quantum programs.

Has the partnership produced a new joint research project?

The report describes student teaching and learning, and URI faculty say the relationship may support further collaboration. It does not announce a specific joint research project, new funding award or formal future program.

Source: rss