Studiengangsinitiative: Master of Science in Quantum Engineering

The aim of this project was to develop and initiate a new Master’s of Science program in Quantum Engineering at ETH and establish ETH Zurich as a globally leading institution for the training of Quantum Engineers.

The motivation of this program becomes clear when considering some of the pressing challenges facing our societies at this point. Many of them appear too large to be tackled with established classical approaches. For example, simulating even relatively simple molecular structures is an impossibility with currently available classical computers. This fact makes efficient development of catalysts and drugs by simulation remain a dream. Another realm of technology that hits classical limits is that of precision measurements. A host of applications, ranging from communication to navigation, require extremely precise measurements, e.g., of time. These measurements are ultimately limited by the laws of quantum mechanics.

Since its inception more than a century ago, quantum mechanics has provided us with a deep understanding of the world around us, in particular on the microscopic scale. To return to the example of computing, the development of solid-state transistors we use for our current computation machines was only possible thanks to a quantum mechanical understanding of the solid state of matter. As quantum theory got fully worked out during the last decades, it became clear that it provides effects going far beyond those encountered when observing the microscopic world. We can today engineer quantum states that exhibit features such as entanglement, squeezing, superposition, and teleportation. Generating, handling, and interrogating such states is now part of the repertoire of all leading quantum science laboratories, with ETH Zurich being a particularly strong player in the field. With the ability to handle and control delicate quantum systems, the door is open to realize technological applications harnessing those quantum effects.

Realizing the promise of quantum technology requires a new type of engineer. The Quantum Engineer needs to have a deep understanding of the laws of quantum mechanics and, at the same time, must master the state of the art of current classical technology. The goal of this Innovedum project was to establish a program that trains Quantum Engineers at ETH Zurich.

When implementing the new Master of Science in Quantum Engineering, we focused on five key aspects.

First, we decided to make the department ITET the leading house in partnership with the department PHYS. This setup ensures an engineering focus.

Second, when designing the curriculum, we identified “accidental Quantum Engineers”. Those were students from our laboratories who had an educational profile that came close to what we envisioned for a Quantum Engineer. Typically, these students were either PHYS students with a strong interest in electrical engineering, or ITET students attracted to physics. These “accidental Quantum Engineers” were helpful to define the core courses of the program, which serve to establish a shared level of knowledge among our students with diverse backgrounds (electrical engineering, physics, engineering physics, computer science, interdisciplinary science, etc.).

Third, to deal with the challenge of diverse student backgrounds, we implemented a tutoring system. Each student is tutored by a professor or senior scientist individually. This tutoring system helps students to orient themselves in the vast choice of courses available at ETH and makes sure that each students takes a balanced mix of courses.

Fourth, we have implemented the new course “Case Studies: Applications of Quantum Technology” which is mandatory and exclusively available to the students of Quantum Engineering. This course invites lecturers both from ETH and from industry to give our students an overview of the activities at ETH across department boundaries as well as in the commercial sector. The course therefore helps students to orient themselves within ETH and beyond and helps them pursue their individual trajectory. Furthermore, this course builds a “class spirit” among the students.

Fifth, we have implemented “QuanTech Workshops”. These are student driven, project based learning environments, where teams of three to four students tackle a problem from the realm of quantum technology. The “QuanTech Workshops” are hosted by ETH labs, and have been extended to industrial research labs. For these workshops, labs pose “QuanTech challenges”, which outline a current problem. The student teams formulate a proposal how they envision solving the challenge. The labs choose promising proposals and the QuanTech team gets to implement their proposal in the hosting research lab. The QuanTech workshops give students a hands-on experience in the lab and the proposal provides them with a strong sense of ownership.

Quantum Engineering is now firmly established as a Master’s Program at ETH. Since the first cohort (fall 2019), 141 students (13% female) have started the program (by fall 2022). By June 2023, 43 students have graduated. Only one person has dropped out of the program.
The average duration of studies was five semesters and the average GPA is 5.57 (standard deviation 0.21).

We learned five important lesson during this project. First, it was instrumental to have ITET as the leading house to make our program a school of engineers more than scientists. Many of our students chose the ETH Quantum Engineering program for this reason. In general, we advise to host programs emerging at the interface of disciplines at the department where they should be in the future (ITET, in our case), instead of the department they are coming from (PHYS, in our case).

Second, the payoff of the course “Case Studies: Applications of Quantum Technology” exceeded our highest expectations. We learned that it is important that our students bond together as a class. Our students founded their own student organization (Quantum Engineering Commission, QEC), now part of AMIV. They host, e.g., a student journal club, a student tutoring system, sports teams, and organize and participate in competitions such as hackathons. To organize these activities in a top-down fashion would neither have the same effect, nor would it be feasible given the resources at hand. We experience the “Case Studies” as a catalyzer that multiplies our investment in our students’ education. We recommend this tool to programs of similar size.

Third, the tutoring system allowed us to keep the course choice of our students extremely flexible and avoid the definition of pre-defined specialization directions. Here, it was vital to pick tutors who shared our vision of the program to steer it in the envisioned direction while keeping formal regulations at a minimum.

Fourth, the QuanTech Workshops are a powerful but relatively costly tool. They force students to take initiative due to their competitive nature. They also strengthen the bond between our program and the research labs at ETH. At the same time, the QuanTech Workshops generate significant administrative and supervision work on the program’s side. Without the financial aid of Innovedum and later the departments, it would not be feasible to host these workshops. A final learning was that since Quantum Engineering became established in industry, (well-paid) industry internships have become a very attractive alternative to students (who can chose to do either and industry internship or a QuanTech Workshop). We note this fact with great satisfaction: Our students are in high demand in the Swiss and international economy.