From June 22-26, Division of Communications and Marketing staff writer Carter Graham spent five days with a cohort of Tennessee middle and high school teachers at the 2026 Quantum Computing, Mathematics and Physics Camp (QCaMP), exploring the future of quantum technology.
Hosted by Sandia National Laboratories, the camp partnered with the UTC Quantum Center and the Chattanooga Quantum Collaborative to help teachers prepare the next generation of students for a new quantum age.
Carter Graham and educators across the Tennessee region participate in a polarization activity during QCaMP. Photo by Angela Foster.
Alongside 23 educators representing 16 public and private schools across Chattanooga and Hamilton County, I heard from industry and research leaders, including Dr. Rick Mukherjee, director of the UTC Quantum Center, and Paul Smith, manager of quantum computing at EPB, about the growing impact of quantum research and technology.
Mukherjee emphasized the importance of quantum education at the middle and high school levels, as quantum will impact industries such as healthcare, logistics and financial services.
“We have professors from different departments associated with the Quantum Center, including mathematics, electrical engineering, computer science and physics,” he said. “Some of them are involved in teaching aspects of quantum. Others are involved on the research side, but we have a truly interdisciplinary program.”
The cohort was supported by UTC Quantum Center faculty members, including Lecturer in Physics Shikha Bangar and Adjunct Faculty of Physics Lani Chastain—who were available to explain topics and answer questions.
Among the many things I learned and now better understand is that the current era of quantum research is often called the “Quantum 2.0” revolution, with three key areas of focus: quantum sensing, quantum communication and quantum computing.
The core principles of the revolution are superposition and entanglement.
Quantum computers use qubits, which can exist in a superposition of zero and one until measured. By contrast, traditional computers use bits that represent either 0 or 1.
Entanglement occurs when two or more particles share correlated quantum states. When entangled, measuring one particle reveals correlated properties of the other, no matter the distance between them.
Juney Shober and other educators participated in activities and games to introduce students to quantum concepts.
University High chemistry and physics teacher Juney Shober said the camp prepared him to cover quantum topics in class.
“Now that I’ve been part of this camp and knowing that some of these things are established,” he said, “I can do some lessons on quantum computing and quantum sensing and prep my students for visiting that lab and speaking with some of the professors.”
With University High on the UTC campus, Shober explained the advantage for students interested in the subject. In the past, he and his students have participated in World Quantum Day celebrations on campus, and he can now better prepare them for the festivities.
“I’m now empowered and informed about quantum computing to be able to explain that to them and also have more resources for them to explore if they’re interested,” Shober said.
The cohort toured two quantum labs on the UTC campus, the Quantum Networking and Communications Lab in the Multi-disciplinary Research Building and the Quantum Sensing Lab in Grote Hall. Teachers were able to ask researchers in the labs questions about the projects and experiments they conduct.
Bangar hopes teachers incorporate what was learned at camp, as the next generation will be more innovative due to an earlier introduction to these concepts.
“We need diversity in that people coming from different backgrounds and coming in and helping us out,” Bangar said. “These teachers are going to go back and tell their students that this is what superposition is, this is what entanglement is, and that will lead to more questions that will lead to more curiosity.
“Eventually this curiosity gets converted and comes back into our society in the form of research and innovation.”
Bangar pointed to the UTC Quantum Summer Camp for high school students as another example of how the University is already preparing the quantum workforce and highlighted local companies as places to work in the quantum field.
“We are training students by doing quantum summer camp for high school students and now we have teachers learning,” she said. “That’s a unique way of looking at things, which I don’t see in all other universities. Because UTC has a big connection to EPB and IonQ here, they can offer real jobs to these students once they are done with their knowledge.”
Chastain works as a researcher in the Quantum Sensing Lab under the Chief Technology Officer of the Quantum Center, Dr. Tian Li.
She praised the research being conducted on campus and the resources available to students.
“We have two really professional quantum experimental labs,” said Chastain, who is also an applied mathematics graduate student. “If you noticed in the program, the three pillars of quantum were quantum sensing, quantum networking and quantum computing—and UTC has access to all three. That’s a really rare thing, especially this growing of the field.”
She said the connections and growth of the quantum community are exciting.
“We’re building a big community,” Chastain said. “We’re really lucky to have these resources with the experimental labs on campus. There are a lot of theorists in the quantum center, too, and all the local connections with the broader community as well.”
Shikha Bangar and Lani Chastain helped demonstrate concepts by using lab materials.
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