SAU Physics Club
During the 2024-25 school year, students in Southern Adventist University’s physics club taught lessons about the basics of Quantum Information Science and Technology (QUIST) at three local schools. Using a number of props as object lessons, including jump ropes, guitars, and paper dice, university students taught middle and high schoolers about quantum concepts to pique their interest in the rapidly growing sector of quantum computing and networking.
“We consider the outreach a matter of workforce development,” says Blake Laing, PhD, professor in the School of Engineering and Physics and sponsor of Southern’s physics club, which is a chapter of the Society of Physics Students (SPS). “The sectors of quantum networking and computing are growing, and they need a whole constellation of people who aren’t in physics but are conversant in basic QUIST terminology.”
To aid in outreach efforts, students applied for and earned a $500 Marsh W. White Outreach Award from the national SPS organization. Laing worked with students in the physics club to organize and conduct outreach events at Harrison Bay Future Ready Center, a public school focused on career readiness and STEM, along with local private schools Standifer Gap Seventh-day Adventist School and Collegedale Academy Middle School. Southern’s SPS chapter and physics club have held outreach events at local schools for the past three years, and this year, the events function in conjunction with the United Nations’ declaration of 2025 as the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology.
At each outreach event, the physics club spent an hour teaching their audience of 20-40 students about three fundamental concepts for quantum information science: quantization, superposition, and quantum superposition. “Quantum information science generalizes concepts in computer science to make use of quantum technologies,” Laing explains.
To teach quantization and superposition, a note is played on a guitar connected through an amplifier to an app, which shows the frequencies of the harmonic series in the frequency spectrum. Students learn that this frequency spectrum is quantized to only the countable “quantized states” of each harmonic because the string is limited by the nodes where the string is attached at each end, illustrating that confined systems have quantized states. In reality, each note is actually a “superposition” of the frequencies shown on the frequency spectrum.
For a lesson about quantum superposition, a type of superposition involving quantum systems like electrons or photons, students are given paper tetrahedral pyramid dice. Each die represents a “Schrodinger’s cat” superposition of the states shown on the faces. Students enjoy performing this measurement, which collapses the superposition as they smash the die flat with their hand, peel it off the table, and read the collapsed state label shown.
“Object lessons are the best way to explain anything,” explains Derek Renck, sophomore biophysics major and outreach coordinator for the physics club. “What we’re teaching is pretty abstract, and by visualizing it, we help students connect the mathematical theory to the actual phenomenon.” He and Laing note that students are clearly engaged and ask impressively specific questions after each presentation.
Renck worked with John Hargy, senior biophysics major, and Oscar Coral, senior physics major, to apply for the Marsh W. White Outreach Award from SPS, which earned the group $500 for outreach. They used the money to purchase a new guitar amplifier, connecting the guitar Laing plays to an iPad to display the strings’ frequencies. “Without the grant, we would not have been able to afford the new equipment, which has noticeably increased the quality of our lessons,” Renck says.
“As physics students, our outreach is a chance to expose the next generation to new technologies that will be the future to make it less daunting for them,” Renck says. “We make ourselves available to the community as a resource and enable those we connect with to exercise their curiosity and expand their perspective on science.”
“I’ve really enjoyed doing this outreach,” Laing says. “It’s been great to see how putting on these events has helped my students grow in their confidence and their ability to present what they’re learning.” He and Renck plan to continue organizing outreach events next school year.