UTC brings national faculty to campus for quantum security and machine learning workshop

A faculty development workshop on quantum security and machine learning recently brought researchers from around the country to UTC. Photo by Angela Foster.

Faculty and researchers from across the country, including the U.S. Air Force, came to the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga for a three-day workshop on quantum security and machine learning.

Held Aug. 4-6 at the College of Engineering and Computer Science, the workshop was led by Dr. Mengjun Xie—a Guerry and UC Foundation Professor, head of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, and director of the UTC InfoSec Center.

The goal was to build faculty knowledge in quantum computing areas that connect directly to cybersecurity, particularly quantum key distribution and quantum machine learning.

“This was an opportunity for UTC to help close a gap in higher education,” said Xie, who joined the UTC faculty in 2018. “It’s a new kind of frontier research. Quantum technology is highly relevant to cybersecurity, but there’s very little faculty development happening in this area. We wanted to change that.”

Xie said the workshop was a collaboration of the InfoSec Center, the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, and the UTC Quantum Center. It was primarily funded through a capacity building grant from the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) Cyber Service Academy program (formerly the DoD Cyber Scholarship Program) with additional support from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and UTC’s Center of Excellence in Applied Computational Science and Engineering.

Xie, who received his Ph.D. in computer science with a specialization in cybersecurity, said that the DoD Cyber Service Academy program is a reputable, highly selective funding source for both scholarships and capacity-building initiatives.

“We’ve been fortunate to receive multiple capacity-building projects through this program,” he said, “and it’s a recognition that UTC is performing at a high level in this space.”

In planning the sessions, Xie focused on two main tracks: the machine learning applications of quantum computing and the security side, with an emphasis on quantum key distribution. The program also included an overview of quantum basics, demonstrations with specialized kits, and participant-led talks on ongoing cybersecurity research at their home institutions.

Attendees didn’t just hear about theory. While UTC’s Quantum Node testbed is still being deployed, the kits in use gave participants a hands-on way to explore the principles.

“The demonstration kits were good enough to basically explain and let people have a good understanding of the principles behind the protocol,” Xie said. “That was important because it gave them something they could take back and share with their own students.”

Participants came from institutions ranging from community colleges to research-intensive universities, underscoring the national reach of the program.

Faculty researchers from across the country, including Ivy Tech Adjunct Professor Jason Henslee (white beard), participated in the three-day workshop.

Jason Henslee, an adjunct professor at Ivy Tech Community College in Valparaiso, Indiana, attended as both a learner and an educator. A retired senior special agent from the U.S. Secret Service, he said the experience gave him a fresh perspective.

“I really like this because it’s a new field for me,” Henslee said. “I came from a digital forensics world and this opens it up, and then I can hopefully pass along information to the younger students at the community college level where they’re trying to decide what they want to do.”

Henslee said the workshop reinforced how important it is to expose students to emerging technologies early in their academic journeys.

“Cybersecurity and network engineering … these are fields that I rarely get to talk about. Now I can go into more detail and have a better understanding of what’s out there and how to prepare the students,” he said.

“It’s pretty interesting the applications they’ll be able to use with quantum computing, with traffic control or biology and cybersecurity and stuff like that, so I think this is all pretty cool.”

Xie credited a team of UTC faculty, students and staff for making the event run smoothly:

Vice Chancellor for Research Reinhold Mann, College of Engineering and Computer Science Dean Kumar Yelamarthi, and Quantum Center Director Rick Mukherjee gave opening remarks, setting the tone for the workshop.
Yu Liang from Computer Science and Engineering and Dr. Tian Li from Physics and the Quantum Center spoke on quantum machine learning and quantum mechanics.
Four graduate students from Computer Science and Engineering—Zachary Lloyd (lead, Ph.D. student), Colby Cook (master’s student and NSF Scholarship for Service recipient), Timothy Justice Peltier (master’s student) and Mani Sravani Kothapalli (master’s student)—provided lectures and technical support. Another student, Ph.D. candidate Vijayalakshmi Kumarasamy, was one of the workshop’s attendees.
Kim Sapp and Kristin Brennan from the UTC Research Institute handled logistics.

Xie said post-workshop evaluations reflected overwhelmingly positive feedback. Building on that success, he wants future workshops to be even more interactive.

“Quantum computing really attracts a lot of people’s attention,” he said. “No matter whether it’s teaching or research, they all feel that’s something very important.

“The next step is to have more interactive opportunities and diverse topics embedded in future workshops so we’re not only presenting information, but also helping participants think about how they can apply this work and collaborate on future projects.”