Quantum technology relies on highly specialized hardware, but few students get the chance to learn how to build, operate, and maintain it outside research laboratories. UC Santa Barbara has received $993,909 from the California Workforce Development Board’s Workforce Accelerator Fund to help close that gap. Led by electrical and computer engineering (ECE) professor Galan Moody and Demis John, a process scientist manager at the UCSB Nanofabrication Facility, Q-COAST, the Quantum Coalition for Optics, Advanced-Vacuum and Superconductivity Training, will develop three hands-on courses with Central Coast community colleges, workforce agencies, and employers. 

“California has been investing in quantum research and development, but the equipment needed to train technicians is expensive and specialized. And it’s traditionally been concentrated at universities and companies,” Moody said. “This partnership makes that equipment and hands-on training more accessible to students, current technicians, and people entering the field.”

The project builds on Central Coast Partnership for Regional Industry-focused Micro/Nanotechnology Education (CC-PRIME) semiconductor bootcamps UCSB launched with Santa Barbara City College in 2021, bringing non-UCSB participants into campus cleanrooms. The approach has since spread to other California institutions. According to Q-COAST administrators, 65% of participants came from underrepresented groups, and 11% entered regional semiconductor jobs immediately after training. 

“Santa Barbara is a microcosm that reflects the needs of many California regions,” said John, who will serve as Q-COAST coordinator. “Because I had worked at a few local semiconductor startup companies, I saw first-hand the problems that the lack of a local workforce was causing within our innovation ecosystem.”

The courses will teach participants how to operate equipment that creates near-perfect vacuums and extremely low temperatures, fabricate and test chips that use light instead of electricity, and direct laser beams with mirrors and lenses. These skills are useful in quantum computing and fusion, as well as semiconductor manufacturing, aerospace, and telecommunications. 

“Technicians turn designs into working systems by fabricating devices, assembling and testing hardware, and keeping complex equipment running,” Moody said. “Their expertise is essential as companies are scaling up from prototypes to commercial technologies that can be manufactured and used reliably.”

To prepare students to work with vacuum and cooling systems, Q-COAST will build two specialized training devices at UCSB’s California NanoSystems Institute (CNSI). Designed by Moody, the compact systems will allow students to learn procedures used on research equipment that can cost more than $1 million, without putting those expensive instruments at risk.

“It’ll let them practice operating a vacuum system, experimenting with cryogenic hardware, and maintaining the equipment,” Moody said. 

The chip-fabrication course will take place in UCSB’s Teaching Cleanroom, which already trains more than 100 students annually in semiconductor processing. Participants will learn to manufacture photonic integrated circuits — chips that manipulate light — and practice connecting optical fibers, packaging the chips, and testing their performance. The course will initially be developed for undergraduate students before being adapted into a summer technician bootcamp. 

“It is fairly rare for students to be able to actually fabricate and test photonic integrated circuits in a class,” John said. “The vast majority of such classes are usually either theoretical or simulation.”

For the third course developed by Q-COAST, Moody will adapt his existing Quantum Photonics Learning Lab to introduce students to quantum optics through a series of experiments involving lasers, mirrors, and lenses. Designed for participants without extensive physics backgrounds, the approach has already been tested in a summer bootcamp offered through UCSB’s Quantum Foundry, a research center funded by the National Science Foundation that develops advanced materials for quantum technologies.  

The importance of practical experience is familiar to Geza Kurczveil, a research scientist in Hewlett Packard’s Large-Scale Integrated Photonics Lab and UCSB ECE PhD alumnus. Although his company is relatively new to developing photonic devices for quantum applications, Kurczveil has encountered a recurring problem when interviewing candidates for positions in photonics — they often know more about designing chips than manufacturing and testing them. 

He recalled an instance in which skipping a five-minute inspection allowed a fabrication error to go undetected until six months of cleanroom work had been completed, rendering an entire batch of chips unusable. 

Technicians, he emphasized, play a critical role throughout the process, pointing to two milestones in developing photonic devices:  when its design is released for fabrication and when the finished chips arrive for testing. 

“Between those two days technicians are working their magic, translating an idea from code and slides into a tangible artifact,” Kurczveil said. “Technicians are essential because without them ideas remain stale PowerPoint slides that will disappear at the next backup restore failure.”

An industry advisory group will review the courses, which will also include assessments toward planned microcredentials from IEEE, an international engineering organization. The credentials will allow participants to demonstrate specific technical skills to potential employers, even without a four-year degree. UCSB also plans to share its curriculum and equipment designs with other institutions to allow its training model to reach students beyond the Central Coast. 

Santa Barbara City College (SBCC), Allan Hancock College, and Cuesta College will help recruit students for the UCSB training programs, expanding access to careers in quantum technology for students who might not otherwise have such opportunities. SBCC will also install its own vacuum training equipment and develop a corresponding curriculum, allowing students to gain foundational skills before advancing to more specialized training at UCSB.

Work to develop the training equipment and curriculum will begin in January 2027, with the first pilot courses expected in summer 2028 and full programs launching the following summer, contingent on additional funding to support participants. The courses, expected to last one to four weeks, will introduce students to skills used in entry-level technical positions. 

John cautioned that a short course cannot produce an expert. It can, however, give applicants enough practical experience to make further on-the-job training easier, or encourage them to continue their education. 

For Moody, the larger goal is to turn UCSB’s research capabilities into opportunities for people who might otherwise have no clear path into emerging technology industries. 

“We want students to leave these programs with more than an introduction to quantum technology,” Moody said. “We want them to have the confidence and practical skills to pursue careers they might never have imagined were possible, and to help build the technologies that will define the next generation of computing and beyond.”

Caption: Teaching cleanroom engineer Prashant Srinivasan instructs participants in UCSB’s CC-Prime summer bootcamp. The program serves as a model for Q-COAST, a new initiative designed to prepare students for careers in the growing quantum technology workforce.