CSforCLE, a partnership between the Levin College of Education and Public Affairs, the Washkewicz College of Engineering, and the Cleveland Metropolitan School District is identified as a best practice in building a quantum talent pipeline. 

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in the acceleration of digital transformation across the globe. The Levin College of Education and Public Affairs has been working to boost the quantum computing talent pipeline in Northeast Ohio through CSfor CLE, a Computer Science Education program that was recently featured in a McKinsey & Company report “Five lessons from AI on closing quantum’s talent gap- before it’s too late”.  

CSforCLE, an initiative that began in 2013 to train teachers in best practices for computer science education, received initial funding from the National Science Foundation and the Cleveland Foundation. Led at the time by Dr. Nigamanth Sridhar, who now serves as Provost of Cleveland State University, and Dr. Debbie Jackson, who now serves as Vice Provost for Instructional Excellence for the University, the initiative has expanded to support teachers and students in CMSD, providing academic enrichment opportunities in computer science, including quantum computing.  

Key CSU faculty and staff addressing the quantum talent pipeline include Chelsey Kohn and Crystal Franklin (Levin College of Public Affairs and Education), Dr. Charles McElroy (Monte Ahuja College of Business), and Dr. Chansu Yu and Dr. Satish Kumar (Washkewicz College of Engineering.)  “Together we are creating an inclusive talent development strategy for Quantum Computing,” according to Chelsey Kohn, Director, Tech Talent Pipeline for CSforCLE. “The applications will be utilized for drug discovery, modeling virus behavior, as well as applications for mechanical engineering and finance." Such tech-based multidisciplinary collaborations are made possible by the CSU T.E.C.H. Hub, a strategic university-wide center at Cleveland State University. Shilpa Kedar, (CSU T.E.C.H. Hub) in her capacity as designee to the Public Interest Technology-University Network (PIT-UN), helped announce a $180,000 grant at the annual (un)Convening this October to support the efforts on developing a diverse quantum computing pipeline.  

Mussa Wisoba was the first high school student to complete a Quantum Computing Internship.  He completed this internship at the Cleveland Clinic in Dr. Dan Blankenberg’s computational biology lab at the Lerner Research Institute.  Mussa has participated in multiple experiences through the CSforCLE Tech Talent Pipeline, culminating in this summer internship prior to his senior year at John Marshall School of Information Technology. 

During the summer of 2022, CSU organized the first High School Quantum Computing Workshop in the United States. Funded by the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Foundation and coordinated by Levin College’s Chelsey Kohn, the one-week workshop exclusively served a cohort of students from the Cleveland Metropolitan School District (CMSD).  Training was provided by Qubit X Qubit, an initiative of The Coding School (TCS) that focuses on the development of the future diverse quantum workforce through accessible quantum computing training.  

Collaborations between CMSD, CSU and Cleveland Clinic will provide a gateway to a network of healthcare, and computational expertise among partner institutions. It will also establish a program of skills-oriented training and certificate course offerings in the region’s academic institutions, at both the university and high school level. There is a particular focus on creating the future quantum computing workforce and catalyzing the Cleveland Innovation District. 

As a result of this partnership, CSU launched a Quantum Computing course (CIS 492/593) for the first time during the Fall semester of 2022 which was taught and coordinated by an interdisciplinary team of CSU faculty members including Dr. Hiram Lopez (Math), and Dr. Mehdi Rahmati, Dr. Janche Sang, and Dr. Chansu Yu (Electrical Engineering & Computer Science). Key partners include the Cleveland Clinic, Case Western Reserve University, and Miami University (OH).  

Plans for the summer of 2023 include a second high school quantum computing workshop and an all-female Middle School Quantum Computing Workshop.  The Cleveland Clinic will host up to five high school interns and 5 undergraduate interns at the Lerner Research Institute.  CSU faculty will be invited to participate in a 3-day Workshop in June focusing on Applications of Quantum Computing, Quantum Computing Curricula, and utilizing the Intersectionality Framework to support underrepresented students pursuing these careers.   Work is also underway to develop a Quantum Computing Certificate program in order to develop regional capacity.