October 28, 2026 -- The California Workforce Development Board awarded $5.7 million(PDF file)(link is external) last week to five projects that will help Californians access quality jobs in the state’s booming quantum and fusion sectors. UC Berkeley will receive $1 million in funding to develop and pilot a regional quantum workforce pipeline that connects high school and college students to quantum careers.

“I’m excited about this project because we have the opportunity to get quantum education right,” said Claire Cramer, the executive director of Berkeley Quantum and the project’s leader. “By leveraging Berkeley’s global leadership in quantum science and the pedagogical expertise of our partners, we will create a sustainable ecosystem of learning that will serve the Bay Area for decades.”

The Bay Area has a robust quantum industry that includes large companies, supply chain partners, and startups. However, the training infrastructure to supply these companies with a local, skilled workforce cannot keep up with growing employer demand. For example, technicians are typically hired locally, yet quantum training opportunities are largely limited to four-year college degrees and beyond, a barrier to entry for many households. 

The regional quantum workforce pipeline will close this gap by creating curriculum at the high school and community college levels designed to meet local employer needs and structured for broad adoption and long-term sustainability. It will also help develop a new, industry-verified credential program.

UC Berkeley and its partners span the full education-to-employment continuum, including San Jose State University, Berkeley City College, Foothill College, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and a robust network of Bay Area employers including Quantum Machines, IonQ, IBM, Google, Conductor Quantum, and PsiQuantum. The Bay Area Council and Silicon Valley Leadership Group will coordinate employer engagement throughout the project, ensuring that training aligns with current and projected workforce needs, and the Alameda County Workforce Development Board will connect project activities to jobseekers facing barriers to employment.

“It’s difficult to underestimate the impact of a Bay Area training pipeline,” said Cramer. “According to data compiled by GO-Biz(link is external), California has more than twice the number of quantum job postings than the next state in line, and half of those jobs are in the Bay Area.”

The project’s funding comes from the state’s Workforce Accelerator Fund 14 grant program, which supports workforce development partnerships that test, scale, and replicate innovative approaches to workforce development. The program’s awards are meant to provide grantees with the flexibility to bridge gaps in the workforce system in ways that mobilize existing funding streams.

The latest round of awards builds on the state’s recent investments and legislation(link is external) to advance California’s leadership in quantum technology and fusion energy. Both areas are identified as priority sectors in California’s State Economic Blueprint(PDF file)(link is external), underscoring the need to support a skilled workforce to drive these emerging industries.

“By bringing together employers, educators, and workforce partners, these investments will help address key barriers to growth, strengthen California’s workforce, and create new opportunities for Californians,” said Kaina Pereira, the California Workforce Development Board’s executive director.

The California Workforce Development Board’s investment recognizes the central role that UC Berkeley plays in the state’s quantum economy. UC Berkeley’s world-class researchers train students in all aspects of quantum mechanics, from physics to computing to materials science. Last year, the campus inaugurated the Roger Herst Quantum Nexus in downtown Berkeley, providing a local hub for academic, government, and quantum industry leaders.

UC Berkeley also hosts the NSF Quantum Leap Challenge Institute for Quantum Computation, a multi-institutional research center sponsored by the National Science Foundation that connects top Californian institutions. Up the hill, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory leads the Quantum Systems Accelerator, a National Quantum Information Science Research Center backed by the U.S. Department of Energy with strong university participation.

“We have made great headway in engaging both the California state government and local commercial sector partners in advancing the emerging field of quantum information,” said Steven Kahn, UC Berkeley’s dean of mathematical and physical sciences. “As this industry grows, the need for an educated and able workforce in the Bay Area will become paramount. We are tremendously excited to lead this initiative toward providing curricular and career-oriented pathways to prepare students to enter that workforce.”