Integrative Training in Quantum Assembly & Technology (InTriQATe) is an NRT program at the University of California, Santa Barbara which aims to prepare students for leadership in a diverse quantum workforce. It is increasingly clear that future advances in the rapidly developing field of quantum science and technology will require the combination of insights and techniques from multiple fields of science and engineering, as well as will benefit from recruiting new talents to the quantum field from diverse areas. Thus, achieving the promise of a “quantum leap” identified by the National Science Foundation will require a different kind of graduate training in quantum science, moving beyond the siloed and specialized instruction in separate departments that is the dominant model for graduate education today. The InTriQATe NRT program is an innovative and intrinsically multidisciplinary traineeship program focused around the central theme of quantum assembly: the integration of disparate quantum elements, and the bringing together of a diverse team of quantum scientists, to achieve new functionalities and behaviors.
The InTriQATe NRT program will transform our graduate curriculum with new classes on the modern toolset of convergent quantum science; professional training in oral and written communication, collaboration, and research ethics; and proactive and coordinated mentoring. The new classes will be at the core of a new PhD emphasis in quantum science & technology at UC Santa Barbara, open to all PhD candidates in participating departments. Trainees will nucleate an interdisciplinary quantum community, hosting regular campus-wide workshops, student-led seminars, and informal lunches. The main outcome of the InTriQATe NRT will be a sustainable thriving interdisciplinary quantum science community that is comprehensively trained, highly creative, and broadly welcoming.