Designing the Quantum Future: Gretchen Campbell Maps the Road from Lab to Policy to Jobs

A recent Quantum Builders webinar, “Designing the Quantum Future: Research, Policy, and Workforce,” brought together leading physicist and policy strategist Gretchen Campbell to discuss how research, government strategy, and education must align to build a global quantum ecosystem. Hosted by Qblox, the session positioned the Washington–Maryland corridor as a flagship example, where a roughly 1‑billion‑dollar “Capital of Quantum” initiative aims to link universities, national labs, startups, and large industry players into a unified innovation region.

Campbell, who has served both as a laboratory leader and as a senior official in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, described how U.S. quantum policy has matured under the National Quantum Initiative and related federal efforts. She outlined how agencies such as the Department of Energy, the National Science Foundation, NIST, and the Department of Defense now coordinate more closely on funding, standards, and infrastructure to accelerate research while supporting commercialization and national security goals.

A major focus of the webinar was workforce development, which Campbell argued must extend well beyond traditional PhD pipelines. The discussion highlighted new quantum minors, experiential learning programs, and partnerships between universities, community colleges, and companies that mirror broader international frameworks emphasizing diverse roles and on‑the‑job training. Examples included regional education and policy summits and industry‑academia collaborations that design curricula around specific skills employers need, from quantum hardware operation to software and systems engineering.

On the scientific front, Campbell drew on her work in atomtronics and ultracold atoms to illustrate how fundamental research is feeding into practical quantum sensing and measurement technologies. These platforms, she noted, are becoming testbeds for applications that could benefit transportation, communications, and critical infrastructure, reinforcing why long‑term research investment remains central even as governments push for near‑term economic returns. Throughout the webinar, Campbell stressed that the most successful quantum regions will be those that integrate research excellence, coherent policy, and inclusive talent pipelines into a single, strategic vision.

Source: Quantum Builders Live Webinar – “Designing the Quantum Future: Research, Policy, and Workforce with Gretchen Campbell,” hosted by Qblox on YouTube.