Quantum Engineering

Program Director

Eliot Kapit, Associate Professor, Physics

Department of Applied Mathematics and Statistics

Cecilia Diniz Behn, Associate Professor

Department of Computer Science

Neil Dantam, Assistant Professor

Dinesh Mehta, Professor

Hua Wang, Associate Professor

Bo Wu, Associate Professor

Dejun Yang, Associate Professor

Hao Zhang, Associate Professor

Department of Electrical Engineering

Peter Aaen, Professor

Payam Nayeri, Assistant Professor

Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering

Geoff Brennecka, Associate Professor

Brian Gorman, Associate Professor

Andriy Zakutayev, Research Assistant Professor

Department of Physics

Lincoln Carr, Professor

Serena Eley, Assistant Professor

Zhexuan Gong, Assistant Professor

Eliot Kapit, Associate Professor

Kyle Leach, Associate Professor

Meenakshi Singh, Assistant Professor

Affiliated Faculty

Matt Beard, Joint Appointment, NREL and Chemistry

Justin Johnson, Joint Appointment, NREL and Physics

Adele Tamboli, Joint Appointment, NREL and Physics

Program Requirements

Quantum Engineering is an interdisciplinary program that seeks to equip students for careers in  emerging technologies based on quantum entanglement. It encompasses a wide range of disciplines that include physics, materials science, computer science, and mathematics, and is necessarily a collaborative effort among many Mines departments.  Two master’s degrees and one graduate certificate are offered.

For both degrees and the graduate certificate, Quantum Engineering has two "tracks" as summarized below. The Quantum Engineering Hardware (QEH) track will focus on experimental techniques relevant to quantum technology, while the Quantum Engineering Software (QES) track will focus on theory, algorithms and simulation. Students must choose a track to complete the program, but they may take courses from both tracks provided they meet the prerequisite requirements.

MS Degree Curriculum Requirements:

A Master of Science in Quantum Engineering will consist of 30 total credits. Students may choose a thesis or non-thesis option for this degree. For the thesis option, 9 credits out of the 30 are devoted to thesis research leading to an acceptable Master's thesis. Students choosing the non-thesis option will devote all 30 credits to coursework. Regardless of the option chosen, 9 of the coursework credits will be devoted to the required core classes for the chosen track. 

Reflecting the interdisciplinary nature of the program, we strongly recommend to our students that at least 9 total credits of the MS degree coursework should come from courses in a department outside of the student's undergraduate major. The required core courses, if outside of the student's major, would count toward this recommendation. Our guiding philosophy is that the problem of building a quantum computer is a complex, interdisciplinary one which requires contributions from a vast array of subfields, and young scientists who appreciate this will likely have a far better perspective on the field than those who do not.

MS Non-Thesis Software Track

PHGN519FUNDAMENTALS OF QUANTUM INFORMATION3.0
CSCI581QUANTUM PROGRAMMING3.0
PHGN545QUANTUM MANY-BODY PHYSICS3.0
Electives 21.0
Total Semester Hrs30.0

MS Non-Thesis Hardware Track

PHGN519FUNDAMENTALS OF QUANTUM INFORMATION3.0
EENG532LOW TEMPERATURE MICROWAVE MEASUREMENTS FOR QUANTUM ENGINEERING3.0
PHGN535INTERDISCIPLINARY SILICON PROCESSING LABORATORY3.0
Electives21.0
Total Semester Hrs30.0

MS Thesis Software Track

PHGN519FUNDAMENTALS OF QUANTUM INFORMATION3.0
CSCI581QUANTUM PROGRAMMING3.0
PHGN545QUANTUM MANY-BODY PHYSICS3.0
Electives12.0
PHGN707GRADUATE THESIS / DISSERTATION RESEARCH CREDIT9.0
Total Semester Hrs30.0

MS Thesis Hardware Track

PHGN519FUNDAMENTALS OF QUANTUM INFORMATION3.0
EENG/PHGN532LOW TEMPERATURE MICROWAVE MEASUREMENTS FOR QUANTUM ENGINEERING3.0
PHGN535INTERDISCIPLINARY SILICON PROCESSING LABORATORY3.0
Electives12.0
PHGN707GRADUATE THESIS / DISSERTATION RESEARCH CREDIT9.0
Total Semester Hrs30.0

Coursework Details:

QES students will be required to take these courses in the following sequence:

In the fall:

  • PHGN519, Fundamentals of Quantum Information

In the spring:

QEH students will be required to take these courses in the following sequence:

In the fall:

  • PHGN519, Fundamentals of Quantum Information

In the spring:

  • PHGN535, Interdisciplinary Silicon Processing Laboratory
  • PHGN532, Low Temperature Microwave Measurements for Quantum Applications

Approved Electives:

Physics Electives
PHGN520QUANTUM MECHANICS I3.0
PHGN521QUANTUM MECHANICS II3.0
PHGN530STATISTICAL MECHANICS3.0
PHGN550NANOSCALE PHYSICS AND TECHNOLOGY3.0
PHGN566MODERN OPTICAL ENGINEERING3.0
PHGN581LASER PHYSICS3.0
PHGN585NONLINEAR OPTICS3.0
Computer Science Electives
CSCI542SIMULATION3.0
CSCI561THEORY OF COMPUTATION3.0
CSCI563PARALLEL COMPUTING FOR SCIENTISTS AND ENGINEERS3.0
CSCI564ADVANCED COMPUTER ARCHITECTURE3.0
CSCI571ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE3.0
CSCI575ADVANCED MACHINE LEARNING3.0
CSCI574THEORY OF CRYPTOGRAPHY3.0
CSCI580ADVANCED HIGH PERFORMANCE COMPUTING3.0
Electrical Engineering Electives
EENG509SPARSE SIGNAL PROCESSING3.0
EENG517THEORY AND DESIGN OF ADVANCED CONTROL SYSTEMS3.0
EENG526ADVANCED ELECTROMAGNETICS3.0
EENG528COMPUTATIONAL ELECTROMAGNETICS3.0
EENG529ACTIVE RF & MICROWAVE DEVICES3.0
EENG530PASSIVE RF & MICROWAVE DEVICES3.0
EENG617INTELLIGENT CONTROL SYSTEMS3.0
EENG618NONLINEAR AND ADAPTIVE CONTROL3.0
Metallurgy and Material Engineering Electives
Materials Science Electives
MTGN605ADVANCED TRANSMISSION ELECTRON MICROSCOPY2.0
MTGN605LADVANCED TRANSMISSION ELECTRON MICROSCOPY LABORATORY1.0
MTGN656ADVANCED ELECTRON MICROSCOPY2.0
MTGN656LADVANCED ELECTRON MICROSCOPY LABORATORY1.0
MLGN502SOLID STATE PHYSICS3.0
MTGN573COMPUTATIONAL MATERIALS3.0
MLGN515ELECTRICAL PROPERTIES AND APPLICATIONS OF MATERIALS3.0
MLGN583PRINCIPLES AND APPLICATIONS OF SURFACE ANALYSIS TECHNIQUES3.0
MLGN593BONDING, STRUCTURE, AND CRYSTALLOGRAPHY3.0
Applied Mathematics and Statistics Electives
MATH506COMPLEX ANALYSIS II3.0
MATH510ORDINARY DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS AND DYNAMICAL SYSTEMS3.0
MATH536ADVANCED STATISTICAL MODELING3.0
MATH538STOCHASTIC MODELS3.0
MATH550NUMERICAL SOLUTION OF PARTIAL DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS3.0
MATH551COMPUTATIONAL LINEAR ALGEBRA3.0
Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences Electives
HASS523ADVANCED SCIENCE COMMUNICATION3.0

Mines' Combined Undergraduate/Graduate Degree Program: 

Students enrolled in Mines’ combined undergraduate/graduate program may double count up to 6 credits of graduate coursework to fulfill requirements of both their undergraduate and graduate degree programs. These courses must have been passed with B- or better, not be substitutes for required coursework, and meet all other university, department, and program requirements for graduate credit.

Students are advised to consult with their undergraduate and graduate advisors for appropriate courses to double count upon admission to the combined program.

Graduate Certificate Curriculum Requirements:

The certificate option consists of three of the four new courses, plus one additional elective chosen from the above list, for a total of 12 credits.

Graduate Certificate, Software Track

PHGN519FUNDAMENTALS OF QUANTUM INFORMATION3.0
CSCI581QUANTUM PROGRAMMING3.0
PHGN545QUANTUM MANY-BODY PHYSICS3.0
Elective3.0
Total Semester Hrs12.0

Graduate Certificate, Hardware Track

PHGN519FUNDAMENTALS OF QUANTUM INFORMATION3.0
PHGN535INTERDISCIPLINARY SILICON PROCESSING LABORATORY3.0
EENG/PHGN532LOW TEMPERATURE MICROWAVE MEASUREMENTS FOR QUANTUM ENGINEERING3.0
Elective3.0
Total Semester Hrs12.0