Shown is a quantum chip developed in the laboratory of University of Maryland physicist Alicia Kollár, a senior investigator with the NSF Quantum Leap Challenge Institute for Robust Quantum Simulation (NSF RQS). The institute’s renewed award will support the next phase of research in robust quantum simulation. Photo by John T. Consoli / University of MarylandA University of Maryland-led institute focused on robust quantum simulation will launch a new phase of research with a five-year U.S. National Science Foundation award expected to total $37.5 million.

The renewal for the NSF Quantum Leap Challenge Institute for Robust Quantum Simulation (NSF RQS), which takes effect Sept. 1, reflects UMD’s long-term commitment to advancing quantum computing to take on society’s grand challenges and to spark a new era of scientific, technological and economic development, UMD President Darryll J. Pines said.

“Our researchers in quantum simulation are an important part of the vibrant quantum ecosystem we’ve built,” Pines said, “helping establish our campus and the surrounding region as the Capital of Quantum and making our Discovery District a dynamic hub where research, industry and community combine for real-world impact on the public good.”

Established in 2021 with a $25 million federal award, NSF RQS has developed novel ways to verify quantum systems, reduce errors and demonstrate increasingly sophisticated quantum simulations while building a collaborative community of scientists, engineers, educators and students.

Quantum simulation is widely viewed as one of the first practical applications of quantum computing. Rather than trying to make every type of computation faster, quantum simulators are designed to model extraordinarily complex quantum systems that overwhelm even today’s most powerful conventional computers.

The new award expands the institute’s scientific agenda; sustains education and workforce development programs; strengthens partnerships across academia, federal laboratories and industry; and positions NSF RQS to pursue the next generation of challenges in quantum simulation. Harvard University also will join the NSF RQS consortium, expanding the current collaboration between UMD, Duke University, Princeton University, Yale University and researchers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

NSF RQS is one of eight NSF Quantum Leap Challenge Institutes (QLCI), a network of interdisciplinary research centers created to accelerate advances in quantum information science through collaborative research, education and workforce development.

“For more than four decades, NSF has been laying the foundational groundwork of research and discovery that is powering today’s modern quantum computing, sensing and communication,” said Brian Stone, performing the duties of the NSF director. “It’s time for focused activities to leverage that base of knowledge to drive us even farther forward to the benefit of all Americans. The NSF Quantum Leap Challenge Institutes are a next step for us in understanding the quantum world we live in.”

Mohammad Hafezi, a Minta Martin Professor of Physics and Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Maryland, will become director of the NSF Quantum Leap Challenge Institute for Robust Quantum Simulation under its renewed five-year award. Image courtesy of NSF RQSDuring its first funding cycle, NSF RQS researchers achieved breakthroughs in fault-tolerant quantum simulation with neutral atoms, new methods for verifying quantum advantage on analog quantum simulators, erasure detection in Rydberg atoms and quantum simulations of gauge theories and quantum materials. Together, these advances brought robust quantum simulation closer to becoming a practical tool for scientific discovery.

That progress was matched by the institute’s growth as a national research enterprise. NSF RQS researchers collectively produced more than 600 papers, generating nearly 17,000 citations. Along the way, NSF RQS trained more than 400 graduate students and postdoctoral researchers while developing programs designed to strengthen the nation’s future quantum workforce.

“NSF’s investment in the QLCIs established hubs for research on critical topics in quantum information science at a time when the field is rapidly advancing,” said Andrew Childs, a UMD professor of computer science who directed NSF RQS during its first five years. “I’m grateful for all the collaborations it enabled and proud of the progress RQS researchers made in just five short years.”

Childs is stepping down as director after guiding the institute through its formative years. Mohammad Hafezi, a UMD Minta Martin Professor with joint appointments in physics and electrical and computer engineering, will become director. Michael Gullans, a physicist at NIST and an adjunct assistant professor in physics and the University of Maryland Institute for Advanced Computer Studies (UMIACS), will serve as deputy director.

“We are at the cusp of determining exactly what quantum computers can and cannot do in the near future,” Hafezi said. “Realizing that potential will require vibrant partnerships among universities, federal laboratories and private industry, and we’re grateful for this renewed support to help lead that effort.”

The new award funds a shift toward what institute leaders call “quantum simulation engineering”—developing quantum technologies that are increasingly scalable and capable of addressing important scientific problems. Researchers will focus on three research themes: interacting fermion simulation, which seeks to model the particles that make up matter; fermion-boson simulation, which examines how matter particles interact with force-carrying particles in complex quantum systems; and dissipative quantum simulation, which studies quantum systems interacting with their environments instead of treating environmental effects solely as unwanted noise.

NSF RQS benefits from technical and administrative support provided by UMIACS, which helps coordinate research activities across the institute’s university and federal partners, Hafezi said.

The institute also will expand its educational mission alongside its research portfolio.

During its first funding cycle, NSF RQS helped launch the University of Maryland’s quantum science and engineering minor, supported K-12 teacher professional development workshops that reached 75 educators, and developed innovative quantum activity toolkits used by 100 teachers to introduce more than 2,000 middle and high school students to concepts like superposition and measurement.

The institute also established an international QSim conference series that attracted more than 600 attendees and launched the Quantum Leap Career Nexus, which connects students with more than 50 companies, government laboratories and universities through career fairs and networking opportunities.

The renewed award will build on those efforts through additional teacher development workshops, public outreach, K-12 quantum education programs, research seminars and summer schools while creating new opportunities for students and postdoctoral researchers to prepare for careers throughout the quantum workforce.

Gretchen Campbell, associate vice president for quantum research and education at UMD, will lead the institute’s education and workforce development efforts moving forward.

“Preparing the future quantum workforce means creating opportunities at every stage—from K-12 classrooms to graduate education and professional careers,” Campbell said. “By connecting students, educators and researchers across that entire pipeline, we can help ensure the talent needed to advance quantum science and technology is ready when the next breakthroughs arrive.”

—Story by UMIACS communications group

Bob Ellsworth, Zoa Conner, Betty Alexander, Me-Li Chen, Jordan Goodman.Bob Ellsworth, a UMD Physics visiting professor and professor emeritus at George Mason University, died on August 6, 2026 at the age of 89. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Rochester and pursued a distinguished career in experimental particle and cosmic-ray physics. Working with Professor Gaurang Yodh, Bob helped establish UMD’s cosmic-ray research group. His pioneering measurements using cosmic rays provided the first experimental evidence that the proton-proton cross section increases with energy, a fundamental result in high-energy particle physics. His later research included contributions to the Super-Kamiokande neutrino experiment in Japan, the Cygnus and Milagro observatories in New Mexico, and the HAWC Observatory in Mexico. Professor Jordan Goodman first met Bob as a UMD freshman and recalls, “Bob was a tremendous mentor to me. He taught me the importance of careful experimental work: Always start by looking at the signal.”

Claude Kacser, a faculty member from 1964 to 1997, died on Aug. 24, 2026 at the age of 92.  Kacser received his doctorate at Oxford University and accepted postions at Princeton and Columbia universities before joining UMD. He was the author of the 1967 textbook, Introduction to the Special Theory of Relativity.   Claude KacserKacser was sent to America from Europe as a six-year old in 1940 to escape the Nazi threat. He told his story as part of the "One Thousand Children" project in 2012: Claude Kacser's One Thousand Children Story (American Kindertransport).

Miriam L. Ferrell died on June 8, 2026. She was the wife of Dr. Richard Ferrell and a strong supporter of the Department of Physics.Miriam Ferrell and Steve Rolston

Born in Princeton, New Jersey, in 1928, she was the ninth of 11 children. She married Richard Ferrell
in 1952 while employed by Educational Testing Service (the creator of the SAT and GRE tests) in Princeton. When John Toll hired Richard to strengthen the condensed matter theory efforts in the UMD Physics department, the Ferrells settled in University Park. Both were avid hikers and skiers. As Richard’s research became internationally renowned, he, Miriam and their children learned new languages and were invited and honored at universities and professional conferences all over the world. Miriam reciprocally hosted numerous international guests visiting UMD, was active in the UMD Faculty Wives Club and International Wives Club, and was a docent at the Riversdale House. Richard died in Miriam’s loving arms at their home in 2005.

Miriam is survived by her son Robert Ferrell and daughter Rebecca Clark, their
respective spouses Lisa and Jeff, and four grandchildren: Thomas, Gabriela, Melissa,
and Jessica.

A glimpse at Mary Keen’s resume might suggest that she always wanted to work in nuclear energy—but that’s far from the case. 

UMD junior physics major Mary Keen is a summer intern at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Photo courtesy of Mary Keen.

The junior physics major is president of the University of Maryland’s chapter of the American Nuclear Society and took a course designed to train students to operate UMD’s nuclear reactor. This summer as an intern at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) headquarters in Rockville, Maryland, she’s working on licensing for nuclear waste storage and transportation. 

But Keen wasn’t always on this path. When she first came to UMD, she was unsure of her career trajectory. She chose to major in physics—despite having never taken a physics class in high school—because it offered a wide range of career possibilities. But it didn’t take long for her to find her way. UMD junior physics major Mary Keen is a summer intern at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Photo courtesy of Mary Keen.

“I've become so passionate about nuclear energy,” Keen said. “Going into college with an open mind and being okay with whatever comes your way has been so fun.”

Keen’s path to a career in nuclear energy started when she joined UMD’s chapter of the American Nuclear Society during her first week as a freshman. Vaguely familiar with nuclear science from her high school chemistry class, she joined the club in an effort to make friends. Unexpectedly, she fell in love with the topic and joined the group’s executive board. 

As part of the club’s leadership team, Keen connected with the director of UMD’s nuclear reactor and enrolled in the introductory course for the reactor's operator training program. Located in the Chemical and Nuclear Engineering Building, the reactor is used for coursework, radiation experiments and neutron imaging. For Keen, the reactor provides a training ground to learn how to safely operate nuclear machinery. 

“Even though my parents, Ann Keen (B.S. '00, microbiology) and Edward Keen (B.S. '00, microbiology; B.A. '00, history), and grandparents went to UMD, none of us knew there was a reactor on campus,” she said. “For our reactor, there is a checklist with over 100 steps to make sure that all of the systems are functioning correctly.”

Mary Keen and other UMD researchers presented their work at the International Association for Probabilistic Safety Assessment and Management’s conference in Pittsburgh this summer. Photo courtesy of Mary Keen

Keen also conducts nuclear safety research with Civil and Environmental Engineering Associate Professor Michelle Bensi, who previously worked for the NRC and contributed to the agency's response to the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi reactor accidents. Working with Bensi and UMD Radiation Facilities Director Amber Johnson, Keen studies safety culture at research reactors, where she identifies errors that operators may be at risk for. She develops training modules that help reactor staff recognize risks before they become problems. 

Keen presented this work at the International Association for Probabilistic Safety Assessment and Management’s conference in Pittsburgh this summer, and her findings will be published in the conference proceedings. 

Now, as an intern at the NRC, Keen works in a licensing branch focused on the storage and transportation of spent nuclear fuel. Surprisingly, she said, her favorite part of the job doesn’t require getting close and personal with nuclear reactors at all. 

"I've absolutely fallen in love with making handbooks," Keen said, describing the internal guides she writes to help colleagues navigate agency databases and systems. "I remember I was about to go to sleep, and my coworker messaged me and said, 'Hey, I'm having a lot of trouble finding a document. Can you tell me how to use our search database?' So when I got to work the next morning, I whipped up a handbook and sent it to him."

Keen is still deciding whether she wants to work in regulation, research or industry in the future. But, whichever path she chooses, she’s moving forward with an open mind—just as she did at UMD. 

“Stepping out of your comfort zone is what is going to prepare you for anything in the future, and it’s not so scary once you learn that people are there for you,” Keen said. “I’ve had such wonderful people behind me at UMD. I’ve grown so much, and I don’t think I would trade that for anything.”

Original story by Jason P. Dinh: https://cmns.umd.edu/news-events/news/mary-keen-nuclear-safety-nrc-internship

It took one week, five flights and a slow ride on a six-wheeled bus for Rachel Procter-Murphy to arrive at her dream destination: the South Pole.

Rachel Procter-Murphy in Antarctica assisting with an installation at the IceCube observatory. Photo courtesy of same.

Last fall, the University of Maryland physics Ph.D. student went to Antarctica for two months in search of neutrinos—super-abundant but hard-to-detect subatomic particles created by violent events like exploding stars and radioactive decay. She was most excited to be in the presence of IceCube, a neutrino observatory outfitted with thousands of optical sensors suspended deep within the ice and spanning 35.3 billion cubic feet (about the volume of the Empire State Building 946 times over).

“It was an incredible opportunity to work with technology that very few people get to experience,” Procter-Murphy said. “I felt like I’d won the lottery.”

Pinpointing the invisible

Procter-Murphy’s Ph.D. research focuses not just on finding neutrinos in space but also figuring out where they’re coming from. 

“Trying to pinpoint things that are virtually invisible has its challenges,” she noted. 

Neutrinos have little mass, no electrical charge and don’t interact with much in the universe—they aren’t bent by magnetic fields or interruptedRachel Procter-Murphy in Antarctica assisting with an installation at the IceCube observatory. Photo courtesy of same. by dust clouds—so they streak through the Earth (and our bodies) in a straight line, mostly unnoticed. Despite their abundance, scientists can only detect them on the rare occasion that they interact with something—like ice.

“The South Pole is a great place to detect neutrinos because the ice target is so big and the ice is so clear, dark and mostly stable,” Procter-Murphy explained. When a rare neutrino collides with an atom in the ice, “it creates charged particles that emit a faint blue glow known as Cherenkov radiation. That light is what IceCube’s sensors detect.”

But neutrinos aren’t the only bits from afar being blasted out of the sky.

“Cosmic rays interact with the atmosphere and produce a lot of particles that also interact with the detector,” Procter-Murphy said. “And they send thousands per second, while the astrophysical neutrinos only occur around once every two weeks. So, there’s a lot of background noise that we’re trying to mitigate.”

Parsing through those mixed signals, Procter-Murphy worked with IceCube data to search for the particles' origins by scouring  “catalogs of astrophysical sources,” enabling her to narrow down what might be producing these neutrinos—an effort that helps serve an even more ambitious aim. 

“Neutrinos aren’t going to cure cancer or solve hunger, but there’s value in adding detail to the big picture of how the universe works,” she said. “Understanding these major forces could help explain the existence of stars and planets and even the reason living things like us are made of matter.”Drilling into the ice to install a new string of neutrino sensors at the IceCube observatory. Photo courtesy of Rachel Procter-Murphy.

Hands-on education

Procter-Murphy’s main goal while at the South Pole was to help install an upgrade to IceCube. The observatory is made up of a hexagonal lattice of more than 85 cables or “strings,” each equipped with 60 digital optical modules (DOMs) that are suspended in the ice at depths between 4,760 and 8,200 feet. A rush of water kept hot by massive car-wash heaters lets installers drill down into the ice and unspool the DOM-laden strings into place. The ice then refreezes around the instruments, becoming part of the observatory.

“We installed five new strings, which had me at times standing over a huge hole in a glacier, with space heaters around me and cold air constantly blowing in my face from the hole as I’m monitoring these giant cables and tapping away on an iPad—it was a bit surreal,” she recalled. “Not your typical graduate school experience.”

But as noted by her advisor, Physics Professor and Chair Kara Hoffman, Procter-Murphy is not your typical graduate student.

“Rachel isn’t afraid to pursue what she wants,” Hoffman said. “Beds at the Pole are limited, with many of them occupied by the essential personnel who keep the station running and operate the heavy construction machinery. There's a lot of competition for the slots designated for scientists."

To get one of those slots, "she was a great advocate for herself, did the training and rose to the necessary level to be a good colleague on the ice,” Hoffman said. "What that means is being willing and able to do everything from scrub toilets to survey, drill and do high-level data analysis. Rachel stepped up and people praised her for filling so many gaps. Not everyone could have done what she did.”

Eyes on the skies

Working on IceCube was something Procter-Murphy feels she was destined to do.

“As a kid, I wanted to be an astronaut,” she said. “I was obsessed with space. I wanted to know about black holes, how things behave deep in the universe, science-y things like that.”

So, she zeroed in on physics, with astrophysics as her dream career.

“When I first interviewed at UMD, I remember Professor Hoffman saying she felt that students did their best work on things they were passionate about,” Procter-Murphy said. “For me, that meant trying to get to the Pole.”

As that trip became a reality, Procter-Murphy faced a slew of medical tests to ensure she could handle the difficult conditions, then the grueling days of travel ending in a mild sense of panic as she struggled to carry her own bag in the thin air at 10,000 feet. 

But once she acclimated to the conditions, Procter-Murphy dove into her work and thrived. 

“The two-month experience made me a more confident, capable person,” she said. “And I was surprised how much I enjoyed the installation. Now I can see adding an engineering aspect to whatever I do next.”

Warm memories 

Rachel Procter-Murphy leaps for joy at the South Pole. Photo courtesy of same.

Rachel Procter-Murphy leaps for joy at the South Pole. Photo courtesy of same.Procter-Murphy credits much of her Antarctic success to the people around her. 

“I was part of such a supportive group who thought I had good ideas and was worth listening to,” she said. “That helped me to grow and changed how I saw myself.” 

Among her most memorable moments: working with IceCube for the first time, scribbling her own name in the logbook signed by the original observatory installers and sledding down a giant glacier.

Oh, and standing at the end of the world.

“The end of the world is what people call the place beyond the research station and defunct buildings, where snow management ends,” she explained. “It feels like the edge of nothingness, just flat ice and open space under this eerie glow as far as you can see. It’s a view I’ll never forget.”

Quantum World Congress has announced the University of Maryland will be the 2026 Lead Academic Partner for Quantum World Congress, taking place September 23–25, 2026 at The Hotel at the University of Maryland in College Park.

The partnership reflects both UMD’s longstanding leadership in quantum science and technology and Quantum World Congress’ move into the heart of Maryland’s rapidly expanding quantum ecosystem. Anchored by the University of Maryland, College Park has become a national center of gravity for quantum research, commercialization, workforce development, public-private partnership, and real-world deployment.

University of Maryland President Darryll J. Pines has been a longtime champion of Quantum World Congress and a leading voice in advancing Maryland’s role as the Capital of Quantum. At Quantum World Congress 2025, Pines delivered a keynote outlining how UMD and its partners are turning decades of foundational research into practical quantum impact across computing, networking, materials, national security, life sciences, and workforce development.

“Quantum World Congress was created to connect the people and institutions moving quantum from promise to practice,” said George Thomas, CEO of Connected DMV. “There is no better place to host that conversation in 2026 than College Park, and no better academic partner than the University of Maryland. UMD has spent decades building the research strength, talent pipeline, industry partnerships, and regional momentum that this field needs now. President Pines has been one of the clearest and most consistent champions of that vision, and we are proud to recognize UMD as our Lead Academic Partner as Quantum World Congress comes to College Park.”

UMD is home to one of the world’s largest concentrations of quantum scientists and engineers, with more than 350 researchers advancing quantum computing, cryptography, materials, networking, sensing, and related disciplines. Its quantum enterprise includes the Joint Quantum Institute and the Joint Center for Quantum Information and Computer Science, both established through partnerships with the National Institute of Standards and Technology; the NSF-funded Institute for Robust Quantum Simulation and Center for Quantum Networks; the Quantum Startup Foundry; the National Quantum Laboratory (QLab) at Maryland; and a broad array of other major research and innovation assets.

"We are tremendously excited and proud to welcome the global quantum community to the Capital of Quantum," said University of Maryland President Darryll J. Pines. "We have spent decades advancing the science that is now driving one of the world's most dynamic quantum ecosystems. The Quantum World Congress is bringing together the world's leading minds to accelerate discovery, inspire the next generation of talent, and forge the partnerships that will shape the emerging quantum economy. There is no better place to host the Quantum World Congress than College Park: we aren't just discussing the future of quantum innovation here, we are actively constructing it."

The announcement comes during a period of major quantum momentum for Maryland and the Greater Washington region. In 2025, Governor Wes Moore launched the $1 billion Capital of Quantum initiative, anchored by UMD, to accelerate quantum research, commercialization, infrastructure, and workforce development. Later that year, DARPA and the State of Maryland announced the Capital Quantum Benchmarking Hub, based at UMD’s Applied Research Laboratory for Intelligence and Security in Discovery District Maryland, to test and evaluate quantum computing systems for national security and commercial applications.

Discovery District Maryland, located just steps from UMD’s main campus, has also become a growing home for quantum industry. Quantum computing firm IonQ, born from UMD research, is headquartered there, and the QLab provides researchers, students, startups, and partners with access to commercial quantum systems. Microsoft has also announced plans for a major new quantum research lab in Discovery District Maryland, further strengthening the region’s position as a hub for quantum innovation.

For Quantum World Congress, the move to College Park is both practical and symbolic. The 2026 event will bring global quantum leaders directly into the ecosystem where research institutions, federal partners, startups, established companies, investors, policymakers, and workforce pipelines are already converging.

“Quantum World Congress has always been about more than showcasing technology,” Thomas added. “It is about building the partnerships, markets, policies, and talent systems that allow quantum technologies to make real impact. UMD and College Park represent exactly that kind of ecosystem: world-class science, public-sector leadership, commercial momentum, and a deep commitment to preparing the next generation.”

Quantum World Congress 2026 will convene leaders across industry, government, academia, finance, national security, workforce, and economic development for three days of keynotes, panels, international programming, startup engagement, policy conversations, technology demonstrations, and partnership-building.

As Lead Academic Partner, the University of Maryland will help shape QWC 2026’s academic and research presence, connect global attendees with Maryland’s quantum ecosystem, and highlight the role of universities in translating quantum discovery into economic growth, public benefit, and real-world deployment.

Registration for Quantum World Congress 2026 is open now. Secure your seat at quantumworldcongress.com.

Original story: Quantum World Congress Announces the University of… | UMD Right Now