--- title: "From Classroom to Cryostat: How Hands-On Quantum Control Is Training the Next Generation" date: "2026-08-14T11:00:45+00:00" url: "https://www.quantum-machines.co/resources/blog/from-classroom-to-cryostat-how-hands-on-quantum-control-is-training-the-next-generation/" --- # From Classroom to Cryostat: How Hands-On Quantum Control Is Training the Next Generation Writers ![Katia Moskvitch](https://www.quantum-machines.co/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/image-20251209-145345-150x150.webp)#### Katia Moskvitch Katia Moskvitch is a science and technology communications leader with deep expertise in quantum computing and advanced research. A former journalist for Nature, Wired, and the BBC, she later led communications for Europe at IBM Research before joining Quantum Machines. She now oversees communications strategy, editorial direction, and storytelling across product, research, and industry initiatives, helping bridge the gap between frontier quantum technologies and broader audiences. Blog August 2026 | 6 min read ![](https://www.quantum-machines.co/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Banner2-1-1024x568.webp)# **From Classroom to Cryostat: How Hands-On Quantum Control Is Training the Next Generation** For years, students wishing to pursue quantum computing could learn the fundamentals of quantum mechanics and quantum information through lectures, simulations and textbooks. But as the field moves from research laboratories toward real-world systems, another question is becoming increasingly important: how do we train people who can actually build, control, troubleshoot and operate quantum hardware? At the University of Oregon, that question is central to an ambitious approach to graduate education – one that gives students hands-on experience with the same kinds of quantum control technologies they are likely to encounter in research and industry. The university has integrated Quantum Machines’ OPX+ into its quantum engineering curriculum, giving students the opportunity to work directly with quantum devices rather than learning about them only in theory. For Nik Zhelev, who leads the university’s Cryogenic Quantum Lab, that distinction is fundamental. “Our inspiration from the start was to design a curriculum where students design, fabricate and measure quantum devices, instead of just learning about them in the classroom,” Zhelev says. “While it is valuable to derive and understand concepts like Rabi oscillations, it is even more valuable to observe them directly by performing coherent quantum measurements yourself.” The approach addresses a problem facing the quantum industry as it scales: there simply aren’t enough people with practical experience operating complex quantum systems. Traditionally, one route into highly specialised experimental quantum roles has been through a PhD. But that pathway cannot scale fast enough to meet the needs of a rapidly developing industry, and it isn’t necessarily the right path for every student who could thrive in quantum engineering. Zhelev’s vision is to create another route. “Our ultimate aim” was to create “an accelerated path, independent of the typical PhD path to gaining the skills and competencies that the quantum industry values,” he says. ## **Learning quantum by doing** There is a fundamental difference between knowing how a quantum experiment should work and actually making it work. A simulation can show students what a Rabi oscillation looks like. A lecture can explain resonance, calibration or superconducting physics. But neither teaches a student what to do when the experiment doesn’t behave as expected. That is where hands-on training becomes particularly valuable. “Lectures and simulations cannot teach you how to troubleshoot and ultimately solve the challenges that inevitably arise when working with lab equipment,” Zhelev says. “These are skills that you can only acquire by having wrestled and eventually conquered a challenging experimental task.” The students working with OPX+ gain experience with quantum control and measurement while developing the practical skills required to operate experimental systems. And that experience can translate directly into the workplace. “By gaining familiarity with industry-standard equipment, students are able to jump in projects and be able to contribute from the get-go,” Zhelev says. “They can get involved in doing qubit measurements on day one.” That is precisely the kind of industry-academia connection that can help shorten the distance between education and employment. “The quantum industry needs people who can move comfortably between theory and experiment. What’s great about the Cryogenic Quantum Lab is that students are working with the exact same hardware and code that our own Customer Success Physicists use in the field with customers,” says Kristina Callaghan, Education & Workforce Development Program Manager at Quantum Machines. “Giving students access to real quantum control hardware helps them build that confidence early and creates a much more direct pathway from the classroom into the quantum workforce.” ## **From quantum measurements to dark matter** For Soka Suliman, a student in the program, the appeal was precisely that practical focus. “What motivated me to join this program was the hands-on experimental focus of the courses,” he says. He was particularly attracted by the opportunity to develop industry-relevant skills without necessarily following the traditional PhD route. Through courses including RF and Low Noise Measurements and Cryogenic and Quantum Measurements, Suliman gained experience performing superconducting-qubit measurements and characterization, followed by more advanced qubit control and measurement using the OPX+. “The hands-on experience I gained through this program … provided me with a strong foundation in experimental quantum measurements,” he says. That experience is already translating into his next steps. During an internship at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Suliman applied his quantum measurement skills to research. He plans to continue his studies at the Illinois Institute of Technology, with a long-term goal of applying quantum technologies to the search for dark matter candidates such as axions and dark photons. It is a good illustration of how broad the potential applications of quantum skills can be. A student can begin by learning to control a qubit and ultimately apply those capabilities to questions about some of the biggest mysteries in the universe. Other students in the program describe similarly formative experiences. Alex Takhistov, now interning at the Air Force Research Laboratory, was struck by how ordinary the underlying hardware can be. “One of the most surprising aspects of quantum computing has been the naive simplicity of the physical devices used to realize such sophisticated quantum systems,” he says. For Gaby Ozuna, now working at Zero Point Cryogenics, it was the extremes the hardware can reach that left the biggest impression. “It’s amazing that scientists have developed the technologies to create cryogenic environments that are colder than the universe,” she says. ## **Building a workforce for quantum’s next chapter** For Zhelev, the relationship between universities and industry needs to go beyond simply providing equipment. “Partnership in terms of loaned or donated equipment are key in realizing a program with our vision into a reality,” he says. But he also highlights graduate co-ops, extended internships and continuous feedback from industry as essential parts of the model. That feedback loop matters because quantum technology itself is changing rapidly. Universities need to understand which skills companies actually value. Companies, meanwhile, benefit from graduates who arrive with experience of real experimental environments rather than having to learn every tool from scratch. The result can be a more responsive education pipeline – one that evolves alongside the technology it is preparing students to build. At Quantum Machines, we see hands-on education as an important part of that ecosystem. Providing students with access to real quantum control technology isn’t simply about teaching them how to use a particular instrument. It is about giving them the opportunity to develop experimental intuition, troubleshoot real systems and gain confidence working at the boundary between theory and hardware. Quantum computing will need far more than physicists. It will need experimentalists, engineers, software developers, control specialists and people who can work across disciplines. The University of Oregon’s approach offers one model for preparing them: learn the theory, then put your hands on the hardware. And sometimes, the best way to understand a quantum computer is to make one do something yourself. ### If you are interested in partnering together to make hands-on quantum education more accessible, please get in touch! Contact Kristina Callaghan at to learn more.