Dear QLeapers and friends,
As the curtain falls on 2025 (aka the Year of Quantum), I would like to take advantage of this brief calming of the inbox to thank you all for your interest, care, and support for PNW’s quantum initiatives, which were more or less jump-started by the founding of this club just a year ago. While I have your attention, I thought there would be no better way to give substance to that gratitude than by recounting a few milestones from our journey this year.
Across just a dozen months, we evolved from a student club into a regional academic collaborator, event producer, training hub, and career accelerator. Specifically, we:
• Put on dozens of events
These included our signature weekly workshops last spring and the weekly meetups this past fall, where students explored both the fundamentals of quantum computing and the latest developments in Quantum Information Science and Technology (QIST) across multiple industry sectors. We worked our way through keynote talks from this year’s IEEE Quantum Week, delivered by many of the field’s movers and shakers — all while consuming a heroic quantity of pizza along the way, eventually capped off with a selection of exquisite teas at our final event of the year.
 QL tea party to close out the fall semester and kick off planning for spring.
• Connected students to national and regional opportunities
We created pathways for students to participate in the YQuantum Hackathon at Yale in April and an NSF-funded summer school program at Purdue West Lafayette in August, giving them hands-on exposure to the broader quantum ecosystem beyond campus.
2025 NSF QC4MC Summer School
• Helped shape curriculum development at PNW
Two new quantum courses launched this fall: Intro to Quantum Computing, designed to introduce STEM students to a fundamentally new paradigm of information processing, and Our Quantum Future, a quantum literacy course created to prepare all students—especially non-STEM majors—for the societal transformations now being ushered in by advances in quantum technology. As a rough analogy, imagine students in 1925 getting a preview of what the 20th century would bring: moon rockets, computers, and the internet. Both courses will continue to be offered in the spring, with the possibility of more to come.
A Quantum Finance talk co-organized with the Investment Club and the STEM Student Union
• Built partnerships across six universities, multiple PNW administrative units, and Chicago-area quantum institutions
These collaborations strengthened our regional footprint and enabled meaningful student participation in multi-campus events and research exchanges.
 QL’s Kowshick “Josh” Srinivasan presenting his paper at a six-campus joint event at the University of Chicago on 10/30/25
QuantumLeap supporting the Fall 2025 STEM & AI Discovery Day on 12/5/25
• Made PNW visible across Midwest Quantum Week and the Chicago Quantum Summit
Through these partnerships, QuantumLeap helped position PNW within a growing regional quantum network, culminating in high-profile events during Midwest Quantum Week and the Chicago Quantum Summit.
 “Building a Useful Quantum Computer in Chicago,” a special Midwest Quantum Week event featuring PsiQuantum—the anchor tenant at the new Quantum Park—co-organized by QL with counterparts from five other universities and hosted by the Union League Club of Chicago immediately following the Chicago Quantum Summit on 11/4/25.
What a year it has been! We are deeply grateful for your continued support, and we are excited to build on this momentum as we head into another year of learning, collaboration, and quantum leaps ahead.
Yours entangled,
Shawn
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