Gina Stafford, January 13, 2025 -- With graduate degrees from some of the most prestigious institutions in Europe, research stints at Harvard University and Rice University; and a post as scientist at the Center for Optical Quantum Technologies at the University of Hamburg in Germany, Dr. Rick Mukherjee now has a new distinction for his resume: inaugural director of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Quantum Center.

He was selected for the post in mid-2024 and assumed the role on Dec. 1.

“I am deeply impressed by the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga’s commitment to advancing quantum research, which stands as a testament to the University’s foresight and dedication to shaping the future of technology,” Mukherjee said. “In addition, EPB’s bold involvement into quantum networks further encapsulates the city’s spirit to embrace this bright future.

“Accepting the position of director of the UTC Quantum Center is not only a tremendous honor, it’s a unique opportunity to contribute to this exciting vision.”

Mukherjee was at his most recent post, in Hamburg, Germany, since April 2022. Prior to that, he was a research associate from 2018 to 2022 at Imperial College London, a global top 10 university in science, engineering, business and medicine.

After serving as a visiting scientist at the Harvard Institute for Theoretical Atomic Molecular and Optical Physics in summer 2017, Mukherjee held the post of visiting scholar at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research in Bhopal from 2017 to 2018. He completed a two-year postdoctoral research fellowship at Rice University in Houston in 2017.

Mukherjee earned a doctorate at the Max Planck Institute for Physics of Complex Systems in Dresden, Germany. He completed two master’s degrees. One is in theoretical and mathematical physics from the University of Cambridge in England; and the other is in astrophysics from Jacobs University in Bremen, Germany. He earned a bachelor’s degree in physics from St. Xavier’s University in Mumbai, India.

“The focus on quantum information science and engineering is a new direction for UTC,” said UTC Vice Chancellor for Research Reinhold Mann. “The Quantum Center represents important opportunities for our students, the community and UTC research collaborations with other institutions.”

Mukherjee’s arrival is the latest milestone on an action-packed timeline toward creating a UTC program of excellence in Quantum Information Science and Engineering (QISE).

That timeline began in 2022 with a focus on education and workforce development and on establishing use cases for QISE in Urban Systems and Energy Systems.

In 2023, UTC became the first U.S. university to host a permanent connection to a commercially available quantum network—the nation’s first, created by EPB—and became a founding member of the Chattanooga Quantum Collaborative.

With $3.5 million in funding from NIST, an agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce, the UTC Quantum Center will focus on four areas of activity: infrastructure; education and outreach; use of case-driven research and development; and business development to ensure the Center’s sustainability.

Over the next year or so, plans are to add courses to an existing UTC certificate program in QISE, which will result in a QISE minor for UTC undergraduates. Following that will be master’s and doctoral programs in QISE.

Just prior to Mukherjee’s arrival in Chattanooga, UTC Quantum Center Chief Technology Officer Tian Li was awarded almost $800,000 from the National Science Foundation for his successful proposal to the NSF ExpandQise program. Short for Expanding Capacity in Quantum Information Science and Engineering, ExpandQISE is intended to boost participation and research capacity in the field. The funding awarded to the project, for which Li serves as principal investigator, will enable UTC to hire postdoctoral researchers, graduate students and undergraduates; and to purchase specialized instruments to be used in conducting research.

In September 2024, a search was launched for a Governor’s Chair scientist in QISE with a joint appointment at UTC and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). The Governor’s Chair program was established in 2006 and funded by the state of Tennessee and ORNL to attract world-class scientists to broaden and enhance the research partnership between the UT System and ORNL, the nation’s largest multiprogram laboratory.

“In equipping UTC to establish new partnerships and grow existing ones across the UT system, with other universities in the region and at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, our Quantum Center is going to be an important asset for economic development in Tennessee,” Mann said. “The Center will be an important part of fulfilling the University’s role in workforce and talent development and offer unparalleled opportunities for our students.”

The Quantum Center is an entity within the UTC Research Institute.