During Quantum Quest, participants will explore the fascinating world of quantum computing with unplugged, hands-on activities on the beautiful Central Arizona College campus. These topics will cover everything from the foundational concepts that make-up the quantum world–entanglement and qubits–to learning how to code on real quantum computers. Girls will learn from outstanding researchers from the University of Arizona and hear from STEM role models from across different organizations, including UA Office of Societal Impact, Girl Scouts of Southern Arizona, Southern Arizona Research, Science, and Engineering, Foundation, Center for Quantum Networks, and Qubit By Qubit.
This camp is supported by the Arizona Public Services Foundation.
Quantum computing is a rapidly developing field, with potential impacts in nearly every industry: from finance to medical research to chemistry. However, the majority of students will not hear about this field until graduate school. This camp provides a fun and inviting entryway to one of the most revolutionary fields today.
Cost: This is a FREE camp
Dates: June 9-13, 2025
Location: Central Arizona College, 8470 N Overfield Rd, Coolidge, AZ 85128
Participants: Girls, ages 14-17
Requirements: No science or mathematics prerequisites needed
Interested? Please fill out our Camp Interest Form: https://forms.gle/MVcCebo4jv7c3BN97
For more information, contact Michelle Higgins at impact@arizona.edu
Informational Video: Here
What YOU can do with Quantum Science: Here
This project is supported by the APS Foundation.
Partners
For more than 50 years, Central Arizona College has been serving and educating the diverse communities of Pinal County. With five campuses located strategically throughout the county, CAC provides accessible, educational, economic, cultural, and personal growth opportunities for those of all ages. CAC is committed to helping students find their path to academic success by offering nine areas of interest, affordable tuition, open admission and small class sizes.
GSSOAZ prepares girls for bright futures by helping them foster compassion, courage, confidence, and character. Girl Scouting focuses on the four programmatic pillars of STEMM: Outdoors, Life Skills, and Entrepreneurship. Girl Scouts are active citizens and engage in camping, community service, learning first aid, and earning badges by acquiring practical skills. Girl Scouts' achievements are recognized with various special awards, including the Gold, Silver, and Bronze Awards. Through financial aid and staff-supported programming, Girl Scouting is available to every girl in southern Arizona, no matter their circumstances.
Qubit By Qubit is the quantum initiative of The Coding School, a 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to empowering the next generation through computer science education. Founded in 2014, TCS has become a global leader in emerging technology education, teaching over 56,000 students and educators in 130 countries. TCS’ flagship program, Qubit by Qubit offers a wide-range of first-of-its-kind programming; from classroom workshops to a full-year high school course, Qubit by Qubit has introduced over 22,000 students to quantum computing since 2020. Regarded as an international quantum education expert, Qubit by Qubit is partnered with a number of leading academic institutions, companies, and organizations, including Google Quantum AI, IBM Quantum, Microsoft, and the White House’s National Q-12 Education Partnership. To learn more about our organization and programs, visit: www.the-cs.org.
With SARSEF, children don’t have to wait to become scientists or engineers. With curiosity as their guide, they can start asking questions they care about and use science and engineering to find solutions that are meaningful to them, and even the world. Through this exploration of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM), students gain critical thinking and problem-solving skills that are important for whatever career they choose.
Our goal is to challenge the research enterprise to be more collaborative, and to focus on impacts beyond benefits to academic institutions or disciplinary knowledge. We work to translate the curiosity and expertise of researchers into policies, practices, and programs to benefit society, measuring reach not only by traditional academic metrics, but in lives touched and improved. Through every step of the research process, we help researchers center real people and their real lives.
Resources
Why Quantum from Australian Chief Scientist, Dr. Cathy Foley:
“Quantum technologies will impact almost every part of our lives – they will give us new ways of monitoring health at the cellular level, new therapies, new materials for the energy transition, navigation without GPS, the ability to create entirely new molecules. They will allow us to ask questions and solve problems we haven’t had the tools to tackle before. The range of possibilities is astounding.
To make our quantum leaps, we need people trained in quantum physics, of course, but we also need people with broader science and software savvy; we need people in electrical engineering, data science, math, precision manufacturing, and nanofabrication. These are all part of quantum.
And women are underrepresented in quantum.
It’s essential that we have gender equity in our future quantum workforce. It’s essential that we have socioeconomic, age, cultural and neuro-diversity. The more diverse the perspectives and experiences of our future workforce, the better off we’ll be. And the more people working on a problem – the sooner we’ll solve it!”
Arizona Technology Council “Why Quantum” for the state
It’s hard to imagine anyone in this readership who has never used a computer for work or school. And it likely would be no surprise to find out that members of at least one generation have always had a computer on their laps or desks or in their palms.
After all, computers can quickly help with the tasks that our parents, grandparents and earlier generations painstakingly did by hand. It’s hard to imagine anything faster than those machines that surround us.
Why Quantum? Quantum technologies are projected to reach a market cap of $1.3 trillion by 2035, with the potential to impact nearly every field: from health care to cybersecurity, to finance and supply chain. Despite these projections, the current talent gap leaves about a third of jobs in the field unfilled. By creating an opportunity for our girls, the goal of this program is to engage and nurture minds early on in their STEM journeys so that they are empowered to pursue a career in Quantum Information Science and Engineering (QISE).