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Lawmakers and witnesses warn cuts to NSF grants and STEM programs threaten U.S. quantum workforce
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Summary
Witnesses and members raised alarm over reported cuts to federal research and STEM education programs, saying reductions to NSF grants and other federal supports would undercut the pipeline of technicians, engineers and researchers needed for quantum industries.
At the House Science Committee hearing, multiple members and witnesses warned that recent or prospective cuts to federal research and STEM education programs would damage the pipeline of talent the quantum industry needs.
Ranking Member Zoe Lofgren and other members cited the termination of nearly 1,500 active National Science Foundation grants and described impacts on physics and engineering education that feed the quantum workforce. "If we think we can support quantum leadership while helping to destroy the workforce that feeds into the quantum industry, we are fooling ourselves," Lofgren said, criticizing grant terminations and urging bipartisanship to protect the science enterprise.
Witnesses described the range of skills quantum companies will need. Dr. Celia Mertzbacher of QEDC said companies require not only Ph.D. researchers but also technicians and engineers with associate or bachelor's level training. "We must create a quantum ready workforce with a diversity of skills from Ph.D.s to technicians," she testified. Dr. Pete Shadbolt of PsiQuantum and Dr. Charles Tahan of Microsoft Quantum echoed that the field now needs welders, cryogenics technicians, packaging and semiconductor fabrication expertise as well as mathematicians and physicists.
Several witnesses pointed to existing programs and partnerships that could be expanded during a reauthorization. Mertzbacher recommended the NSF Advanced Technological Education (ATE) program for technician training and suggested that federal procurement of equipment (for example, cryostats or photonics test gear) could be coordinated to support regional training centers. Members from states with active university programs—North Carolina, California, Ohio, Oregon, and Colorado—described local hubs and asked how reauthorization could ensure national access to training and instrumentation.
The hearing included no committee vote; lawmakers and witnesses urged legislative action that would fund K–12 through community-college pathways and preserve basic research grants that underpin the talent pipeline.
