Building the quantum future

Quantum technologies are revolutionizing how we compute, communicate, and understand the physical world, and governments and industry are investing billions of dollars to bring those discoveries from the laboratory into the real world. At the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, researchers are building that future. Across campus, faculty are advancing quantum materials, computing, sensing, and networking while working alongside Oak Ridge National Laboratory and industry partners to create one of the nation’s emerging ecosystems for quantum innovation. 

Much of that work is coordinated through K-Quantum, a university-wide initiative to accelerate quantum discovery, workforce development, and commercialization across Tennessee. 

Quantum science studies how matter behaves at the smallest scales—down to atoms and the particles that make up the universe. By harnessing those unique behaviors, researchers hope to build faster computers capable of designing new materials and medicines, communication networks protected against cyberattacks, and ultrasensitive sensors capable of detecting phenomena previously beyond the reach of science. 

“Quantum technologies matter because they will shape the next era of computing, security, and measurement—tools that underpin everything from health care to energy to national defense,” said Deb Crawford, vice chancellor for research, innovation, and economic development. “At UT, we’re focused on turning quantum science into practical capabilities like stronger protection for digital information, faster discovery of new medicines and materials, and sensors that can help monitor infrastructure and the environment more safely and accurately. This research is ultimately about improving quality of life while preparing a workforce that can lead in a rapidly changing economy.” 

Decades in the making 

Today’s excitement around quantum computing is built on decades of research. Long before technology companies announced major investments in quantum hardware, researchers at UT and ORNL were investigating the fundamental properties of quantum materials and exploring how those discoveries could one day transform computing, communications, and sensing.

Alan Tennant, professor of physics and materials science in UT’s Department of Physics and Astronomy and director of the Shull Wollan Center, has spent much of his career advancing this research. 

“When I started working in this area, there were very few people asking these questions,” Tennant said. “We believed there was something remarkable about the quantum world. Decades of fundamental research are now opening the door to technologies we could only imagine when this work began.” 

Beyond the quantum computer

Quantum computing is a new approach to computation based on the principles of quantum physics, which govern matter at its smallest scales. Conventional computers process information using bits that are either 0 or 1. Quantum computers use quantum bits, or qubits, which can exist in combinations of 0 and 1. By carefully controlling these qubits, quantum computers may be able to solve certain complex problems much faster than conventional computers. 

Though quantum computing often dominates headlines, researchers say it represents just one part of a much broader scientific landscape. Progress depends on advances in quantum hardware, the algorithms that power it, and the quantum materials that make the technology possible. 

“If you want to harness quantum mechanics, you first have to understand the materials that exhibit those behaviors,” said Adrian Del Maestro, professor and head of the Department of Physics and Astronomy. 

UT has become an international leader in quantum materials research, where scientists investigate the atomic-scale properties that form the foundation of future quantum technologies. Through the university’s partnership with ORNL, faculty and students gain access to world-renowned facilities that provide capabilities available at only a handful of research institutions worldwide. At ORNL’s Spallation Neutron Source, for example, researchers can probe quantum materials with beams of neutrons that reveal how atoms and electrons behave. Those insights help scientists discover and design materials capable of enabling future quantum technologies. 

A quantum research and workforce ecosystem 

Building more powerful quantum computers is only part of the challenge. Researchers must also determine which scientific questions those machines will answer. 

For Rebekah Herrman, assistant professor in the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, that means developing quantum algorithms for optimization, simulation, and machine learning problems that could eventually outperform today’s most powerful supercomputers. Her research explores how quantum computers could one day tackle complex challenges—from optimizing transportation and supply chains to simulating molecules for drug discovery and designing advanced materials—that would be impossible for conventional computers to solve. 

“We’re trying to identify the problems where quantum computers can make a meaningful difference rather than simply doing what classical computers already do,” Herrman said. 

Answering those questions requires physicists, mathematicians, engineers, chemists. and computer scientists working together across disciplines. At ORNL, researchers work alongside scientists at the US Department of Energy’s Quantum Science Center—one of only five national quantum information science research centers in the country. 

“The combination we have here is extraordinary,” Tennant said. “World-leading neutron science, supercomputing, AI, quantum materials expertise, and national laboratory partnerships all come together in one place to tackle scientific challenges that are beyond the reach of conventional computing approaches.” 

That collaborative environment extends across campus as well. UT’s Center for Advanced Materials and Manufacturing, one of only 15 centers of its kind funded by the National Science Foundation, brings together researchers across disciplines to accelerate discoveries using artificial intelligence. Machine learning is helping scientists identify promising quantum materials, analyze massive experimental datasets, and improve simulations, while advances in quantum computing could one day accelerate AI itself. 

“The future isn’t one technology replacing another,” Del Maestro said. “It’s bringing together quantum computing, AI, materials science, and experimental science to solve problems we couldn’t solve before, from discovering new quantum materials to designing next-generation technologies.” 

Preparing students to thrive in that collaborative environment and building a quantum workforce are critical to success. Through an NSF-funded Research Experiences for Undergraduates grant led by Herrman, students from across the country spend the summer at UT learning the fundamentals of quantum computing before joining faculty research groups for hands-on projects. 

Faculty are also exploring new certificates and academic programs to prepare undergraduate and graduate students for careers in quantum information science. 

“As this field grows, training the workforce becomes just as important as advancing the research,” said Herrman.  

Those efforts also position UT to play an integral role in the Tennessee Quantum Initiative, a statewide effort to build a world-class quantum ecosystem by developing a specialized workforce, expanding quantum networks, and creating new research centers. By connecting universities, ORNL, industry, and government, the initiative aims to accelerate discovery, strengthen commercialization, and prepare the talent needed to support Tennessee’s emerging quantum technology economy. 

From lab bench to marketplace

Scientific discovery is only part of what it takes to advance innovation. By working to develop projects including the Maplehurst Innovation District and the Quantum Foundry, to be located in UT Research Park at Cherokee Farm, UT is building the infrastructure needed to move quantum technologies from the laboratory to industry. Both facilities are expected to be completed by 2030.  

“The foundry is where we’ll help develop the hardware,” said Brett Malone, president and CEO of UT Research Park. “Maplehurst is where we’ll connect it, test it, and help move those technologies into real-world applications.”  

Unlike traditional research buildings, the new facilities are being designed as collaborative innovation spaces where university researchers, startup companies, and established industries work side by side. 

“What excites me most is bringing faculty, entrepreneurs, and industry together in the same place,” Malone said. “That’s how discoveries become products.” 

The research park is already home to multiple quantum-related startup companies, and Malone expects that number to grow as new discoveries emerge from campus and ORNL. 

What comes next

As quantum science moves from possibility to reality, UT researchers see more than the next technological breakthrough. They see an opportunity to shape how discoveries move from the laboratory into society. 

By combining internationally recognized expertise in quantum materials, growing strengths in computing and sensing, deep partnerships with ORNL, strategic investments through K-Quantum, and an expanding pipeline of future scientists and engineers, UT is building a network where discovery, education, and commercialization reinforce one another. 

The future of quantum science isn’t taking shape in a single laboratory. 

It’s taking shape across an entire ecosystem.