Carthage physics major completes Argonne fellowship
Carthage physics major Carissa Kiehl ’25 participated in an esteemed fellowship through Argonne National Laboratory over the summer of 2024.
Credit: Diana Dancea, Argonne National Laboratory
Argonne, located in the Chicago area, is one of the 17 U.S. Department of Energy national laboratories. Argonne is a multidisciplinary lab where scientists and engineers work together to answer the world’s biggest questions. It accelerates science and technology for U.S. prosperity and security, with current initiatives ranging from incorporating AI into science to climate action.
She studied magnetic excitations, magnons, in a quantum system to see how they could be converted to microwaves to carry information over long distances. She worked with a vector network analyzer to measure microwave transmissions, wrote computer programs, and analyzed data. Such hands-on experience in the lab has opened the door to more career possibilities.
“The OQI experience has given me the knowledge of what this field can really be and made me excited to go into it,” she said in a Q&A for the Argonne website. “I noticed that other OQI fellows were similar to me, where we didn’t know a lot at the beginning, but everyone is really passionate and ready to learn a lot. It’s been great seeing how there are so many more options in the field than simply quantum computing. My confidence has grown from operating all this equipment and achieving the results from analyzed data.”
Carissa adds to Carthage’s extensive track record of success in prestigious fellowships. Carissa looks forward to continuing her education with a master’s or Ph.D. in quantum information.