H. J. Lewandowski

Traditional physics laboratory courses often focus on experiments with well-known results, limiting students’ engagement in authentic scientific practices. Course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs), where students engage in real research with unknown outcomes, have been shown to support positive student outcomes, such as increased self-efficacy, persistence, and engagement in scientific practices. However, discipline-specific studies of CUREs in physics remain limited. We describe the development, structure, and initial implementation of a photovoltaics-focused CURE in a second-year undergraduate physics laboratory course at the University of Colorado Boulder. To examine how students experienced the course, we analyzed end-of-semester reflection assignments using the five CURE components (i.e., scientific practices, discovery, relevance, collaboration, and iteration), as well as established dimensions of research authenticity, as analytic frameworks. Students described experiences associated with all five CURE components, with collaboration, relevance, and scientific practices appearing most prominently in their reflections. Students also associated authentic research with meaningful scientific contribution, engagement in authentic scientific practices, and navigating the uncertainty and setbacks inherent in research, although fewer explicitly identified themselves as researchers or scientists. A subset of students additionally connected the course to their immediate thinking about future academic and professional pathways. This work contributes both a discipline-specific model for implementing CUREs in experimental physics laboratory courses and provides insight into how students interpret and experience authentic research within this course context.

Career preparation for participation in the quantum industry is often framed in terms of formal educational pipelines, workforce projections, and knowledge and skills needed for various roles. Less is known about how quantum industry professionals themselves characterize their preparation for participation in the field. In this paper, we analyze interviews with quantum industry professionals working across a range of positions and company types to examine the experiences that enable entry into the quantum industry. Using thematic analysis, we identify four trajectories: (1) continuity of research practice from academia to industry, (2) reframing of prior expertise for quantum applications, (3) incremental engagement through various professional opportunities, and (4) network-enabled entry. These trajectories often co-occur within individual narratives, showing that preparation emerges from a combination of educational, professional, and relational experiences. Our findings demonstrate that supporting preparation for quantum industry careers requires more than the design of formal coursework and degree programs. Our results highlight the importance of experiential learning opportunities that allow students to apply their knowledge and skills and develop professional connections that facilitate entry into quantum careers.

Aromatic molecules are important in many fields of chemistry due to their chemical stability and structural rigidity. Recently, multiple polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) species have been observed in the interstellar medium (ISM). While it is well known that PAHs are present in the ISM, how these molecules are formed in these environments is not fully understood. In order to better understand interstellar PAH formation, two classes of mechanisms have been considered, top-down and bottom-up. Top-down mechanisms explore PAH formation through fragmentation processes, and bottom-up mechanisms explore PAH formation through small-molecule aggregation. In bottom-up formation mechanisms, it has long been theorized that the formation of the first aromatic ring via ion–molecule reactions is the rate-limiting step. In this study, we experimentally demonstrate the bottom-up formation of at least three aromatic ions through sequential ion–molecule reactions under interstellar conditions. The assignment of the structures of these molecules is supported through a combination of experimental chemical reactivity studies and quantum chemical calculations. These results reveal that aromatic rings can form with high efficiency in the gas-phase through barrierless reactions and introduce a new potential formation pathway for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons throughout the ISM.

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) have been the subject of extensive investigation by astrochemists over the past two decades. This interest has been spurred by recent observations of multiple PAH species throughout the interstellar medium. Although many PAHs have been observed, the process by which these molecules formed is not yet fully understood. Two categories of mechanisms have been proposed to explain the production of PAHs, “top-down” and “bottom-up.” Top-down mechanisms describe PAH formation through fragmentation of carbonaceous particles by high-energy particles and photons, whereas bottom-up mechanisms describe PAH formation through sequential reactions of smaller molecules that progressively increase in molecular complexity. One proposed bottom-up pathway to PAHs is through the formation of c-C5H7+; however, bottom-up pathways to c-C5H7+ are not yet known. Here, we demonstrate efficient, barrierless pathways to c-C5X7+ and C5X9+ (X = H, D) through the sequential ion–molecule reactions beginning with C2X5+ with C2X4 under interstellar conditions.

The growth of the quantum information science and engineering (QISE) industry has increased interest in how undergraduate programs prepare students for careers in this field. Prior research emphasizes the value of experiential learning as preparation for the quantum industry but lacks specificity regarding the experimental skills needed for positions available to bachelor’s degree graduates. In this study, we investigate the experimental skills associated with bachelor’s-level quantum industry positions through 44 semistructured interviews with quantum industry professionals. Guided by the American Association of Physics Teachers recommendations for the undergraduate physics laboratory curriculum, we characterize the experimental skills associated with positions described as requiring bachelor’s-level preparation and thematically synthesize them into four categories: instrumentation, computation and data analysis, experimental and project design, and communication and collaboration. We further examine how these skills cluster across role types and articulate them as learning goals to provide guidance for educators interested in aligning undergraduate instruction with the needs of students wanting to pursue a career in the quantum industry. Our findings suggest the need to emphasize the discussion of hardware in QISE theory courses, expand experimental training through instructional laboratories, and intentionally integrate professional skills in undergraduate QISE education.

Understanding the formation and reactivity of aromatic molecules is important for understanding chemistry in a wide range of environments, including the interstellar medium. The clear observation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in space has intensified efforts to identify efficient formation pathways capable of producing such complex species under cold, dilute conditions. In astrochemical environments, ion–molecule reactions are typically the dominant type of reactions due to their high efficiency compared to neutral–neutral reactions. However, current models of PAH formation largely neglect ion–molecule reactions beyond the initial formation of benzene. Here, we present results from a series of ion–molecule reactions carried out in Coulomb Crystals beginning with the protonation of toluene to identify possible reaction pathways that could lead to interstellar PAH growth. In this work, we observe the formation of monocyclic aromatic species, C₆H₅⁺ and C₇H₇⁺, via the initial dissociative proton transfer to toluene. We also observe an associative proton transfer product, resulting in C₇H₉⁺. We find the sequential reaction between C₇H₉⁺ and C₇H₈ results in the formation of C₇H₅⁺, C₁₂H₅⁺, and C₁₂H₈⁺, which provides the first experimental evidence of a possible interstellar formation mechanisms of polycyclic cations beginning with monocyclic precursors.

Quantum-state-controlled reactivity is a long-standing goal in the field of physical chemistry. In this work, we explore the vibrational-state-dependent behavior of the ion-molecule reaction between O₂⁺ in distinct vibrational states and two isomers of C₃H₄, allene (H₂C₃H₂) and propyne (H₃C₃H). While most products are formed regardless of the vibrational state of O₂⁺, the branching ratios are influenced by vibrational excitation, and a new product, C₂O⁺, appears exclusively in the excited-state reactions. This selective formation of C₂O⁺ demonstrates that vibrational excitation can effectively activate a reaction pathway, providing direct evidence of quantum-state control in the reactivity. These results represent an important step toward the goal of quantum-state-controlled chemistry in molecular systems.

Quantum-state-controlled reactivity is a long-standing goal in the field of physical chemistry. In this work, we explore the vibrational-state-dependent behavior of the ion-molecule reaction between O2+ in distinct vibrational states and two isomers of C3H4, allene (H2C3H2) and propyne (H3C3H). While most products are formed regardless of the vibrational state of O2+, the branching ratios are influenced by vibrational excitation, and a new product, C2O+, appears exclusively in the excited-state reactions. This selective formation of C2O+ demonstrates that vibrational excitation can effectively activate a reaction pathway, providing direct evidence of quantum-state control in reactivity. These results represent an important step towards the goal of quantum-state-controlled chemistry in molecular systems.

Improving students’ views of experimental physics is often an important goal of undergraduate physics laboratory courses. However, traditional lab courses typically include highly guided activities that often do not require or encourage students to engage in the authentic process of experimental physics. Alternatively, open-ended activities in lab courses can provide students with a more authentic learning experience. Here, we investigate the correlation of open-ended activities in lab courses with students’ views of experimental physics, using an expanded database of the Colorado Learning Attitudes about Science Survey for Experimental Physics (E-CLASS) survey responses from over 30,000 students at over 100 institutions. We show that the inclusion of some open-ended activities is associated with more expertlike postinstruction responses relative to the courses that include only traditional guided activities, and the effect is larger for students with low preinstruction scores. We also find that for courses with at least 1 week spent on open-ended activities, the number of weeks (above zero) spent on open-ended activities is not associated with a pre- to post-instruction gain in the E-CLASS scores. This result suggests that possibly including even a small amount of time on open-ended activities can improve students’ views of experimental physics, which lowers the barrier for instructors to implement such components. These results also suggest that additional research should be conducted to better understand and categorize lab environments beyond simple definitions of inquiry, so as to understand the possible causation mechanisms of labs on students’ views of experimental physics.

As the need for a quantum-ready workforce grows, educators in quantum information science and engineering (QISE) face the challenge of aligning their programs and courses with industry needs. Through a series of interviews with program directors and faculty across 15 different institutions, we identified the considerations that educators are currently addressing as they develop their various courses and programs. Grounded in a curriculum framework, we conducted a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) analysis, which revealed shared challenges and opportunities about program goals, curriculum development, collaboration, program data collection and evaluation, and connections across stakeholders in the quantum ecosystem that educators should consider when developing their QISE efforts. Our findings highlight five overarching themes: (1) the strategic ways educators navigate institutional structures to support QISE initiatives, (2) the ongoing challenge of aligning QISE curricula with industry and institutional needs, (3) the importance of fostering interdisciplinary collaboration across departments and institutions in QISE, (4) the need for robust data collection and evaluation to inform QISE course and program development, and (5) the importance of strengthening industry-academia connections to prepare students for the quantum workforce. The details and interconnections in our findings illustrate the value of applying a structured approach to QISE course and program development with the goal of creating a more cohesive QISE education ecosystem.