The National Science Foundation has awarded the Joint Quantum Institute $12.5 million over five years to create and operate a Physics Frontier Center (PFC) at the University of Maryland (UMD) College Park campus. The Joint Quantum Institute is a collaborative venture between the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the University of Maryland. The JQI Physics Frontier Center will pursue cutting-edge investigations of coherence and entanglement-two fundamental elements of the physics of quantum information.
The co-directors of the PFC are JQI Fellows Bill Phillips of NIST and Luis Orozco of the University of Maryland. They are also members of the PFC Research Council, which includes JQI fellows Sankar Das Sarma (UMD), Chris Monroe (UMD) and Glenn Solomon (NIST).
There are nine other NSF PFCs in the United States, including one at JILA, a joint institute of NIST and the University of Colorado at Boulder. Selection criteria require each one to demonstrate "the potential for a profound advance in physics," as well as "creative, substantive activities aimed at enhancing education, diversity, and public outreach [and] potential for broader impacts, e.g., impacts on other field(s) and benefits to society," among other requirements.
More details about the JQI PFC can be found at www.jqi.umd.edu/pfchome.html.
