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A new program at Central New Mexico Community College Ingenuity is looking to bolster an already growing quantum computing environment in New Mexico.
The college will launch a 10-week boot camp for those looking to join the field, with a planned first cohort in spring of 2025. Funded by just over $800,000 in federal dollars, it will be the first of its kind in the state.
Brian Rashap, an instructor for CNM Ingenuity who teaches other boot camps, said the goal is to prepare students with little to no technical background for a tech job in less than three months. He admits it’s a tough timeline, but said the goal is similar, at least in mindset, to a military-style boot camp.
“It’s very analogous to a military-style boot camp and how much you get how quickly,” Rashap told Albuquerque Business First. “We’re planning on doing a very similar thing for the quantum technician workforce.”
Quantum computing generally refers to computers that can solve more complex problems than commercial computers or even supercomputers, using highly complicated quantum mechanical-based processes.
While it’s mostly spent its history inside research institutions and labs, quantum computing is increasingly becoming commercially viable. Fields such as cybersecurity, artificial intelligence and manufacturing are starting to use the technology to automate tasks, encrypt data and test product prototypes.
Organizations within New Mexico are hoping to capitalize on this new age of quantum applications.
The University of New Mexico and Sandia National Laboratories recently announced a collaborative research and development initiative, dubbed the Quantum New Mexico Institute, and New Mexico in December was named by the federal government as part of the Mountain West “quantum hub,” which hopes to drive innovations and more jobs to the region, alongside Colorado and Wyoming.
CNM is looking to join the trend in its own way. Rashap said the balance of the types of people working in quantum computing is shifting. Previously, it was primarily those with postgraduate degrees who worked in the sector, but those with bachelor’s degrees and below are starting to move in in greater numbers.
As such, more positions for certified quantum computing technicians are currently and will be opening throughout New Mexico and the country. Rashap and others running CNM’s boot camp want to make sure there are people to fill them.
“I feel like we’re ahead of the curve for once, in that if you look out over the next 10 years, we see the quantum workforce both growing and changing,” Rashap said. “The workforce is going to grow and the demographic of the workforce is going to change dramatically.”
Those who go through the program may also be able to transition to fields adjacent to quantum computing, Rashap said, including those already in or planning to come to Albuquerque such as semiconductor manufacturing, optoelectronics and defense.
In addition to CNM Ingenuity’s boot camps, some quantum computing curriculum will be included in CNM’s upcoming engineering technician program, which is set to launch later this year.
As for the timeline of when the necessary quantum computing equipment will be installed, Rashap estimated it could come in around mid-fall of 2024. The program’s first cohort, which will likely be around eight to 12 students, is set to begin spring of 2025.
“It’s not like you need to have a certain level of math skills or a certain level of science skills,” Rashap said. “The programs are really designed to take people that want to put in, I’ll say, the sweat equity to go learn stuff over 10 weeks.”