Susan Watson(Physics) and collaborators at Harvard University have been awarded a grant from the National Science Foundation’s Physics at the Information Frontier (PIF) program to conduct research in the field of quantum information processing, in which the unusual features of quantum physics are harnessed to allow the rapid encoding and manipulation of information. The team of researchers will exploit the unique properties of carbon nanotubes, which are themselves newly understood and are a forefront area of fundamental physics, to create and investigate quantum bits – the fundamental building blocks of quantum computation. Over the course of three years, at least 6 undergraduates will be involved in this research effort. Project title: Carbon-based long-coherence quantum bit.