The $100,000 annual award, presented jointly by the IBM-HBCU Quantum Center and SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics, supports and promotes research and education in quantum optics and photonics within IBM-HBCU Quantum Center member institutions.
Acknowledging the inequities in previous technology nodes and supporting workforce developments, SPIE and IBM are working together to ensure the technologies of the future leverage the qualities and experiences of a diverse community. Quantum photonics and its related technologies will be at the forefront of technology advancements and the economies of the future. SPIE and IBM believe the impact of these technologies will be stronger with the inclusion of the ideas and work of the diverse student-bodies found at America's Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). Together, IBM and SPIE are working to help create an open, diverse, and inclusive quantum future.
The IBM-HBCU Quantum Center and SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics, are soliciting proposals for the IBM-SPIE HBCU Faculty Accelerator Award in Quantum Optics and Photonics. This $100,000 award shall be used to promote research and education in quantum optics and photonics within IBM-HBCU Quantum Center member institutions, and may support students or postdoc researcher stipends, travel, conference registration, equipment, materials and supplies, and faculty summer salary.
Research proposals should lead to presentation at an SPIE conference and publication, commit to engagement with the IBM-HBCU Quantum Center, and contribute to the overall mission of the Quantum Center and SPIE.
All proposals will be reviewed by SPIE and IBM Quantum based on the following criteria with an emphasis on the scientific and community impact of the proposal:
Advancement of quantum optics and photonics research or education
Intellectual merit and broader impact of project on Black community and the IBM-HBCU Quantum Center
Qualifications/Publication Record of PI and proposing team, based on supplemental material
All applicants accept both IBM and SPIE privacy policies.
Questions can be directed to SPIE-IBM-quantumfuture@spie.org
Congratulations to Wesley Sims, an assistant professor of physics at Morehouse College and director of the college’s Micro/Nano Optics Research & Engineering Laboratory, for being selected as the 2022 recipient of the IBM-SPIE HBCU Faculty Accelerator Award in Quantum Optics and Photonics. Sims plans to apply the $100,000 award to “study integrated photon-photon correlation architectures that can provide ultrafast sensitivity and thus examine both coherent and incoherent excitation mechanisms in a plethora of quantum materials, from solid-state to soft condensed matter systems.” In addition, he will provide additional mentorship and training, as well as hands-on summer research opportunities, for Morehouse physics undergraduates through an established collaboration between Morehouse, the University of California, Los Angeles, and Stanford University’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory.