How Columbus is leading the way on World Quantum Day - World Quantum Day is an annual observance on April 14 to highlight the science shaping the future of technology. - The Ohio State University has become a major player in quantum research, positioning Columbus as a technology hub. - The university has also launched one of the nation's first graduate programs in quantum information science and engineering. It's World Quantum Day, an annual global observance meant to spotlight the science shaping the future of computing, communications and cybersecurity. While the April 14 observance began as a grassroots effort to raise public awareness around quantum science, researchers say it now comes amid a broader global push to mark roughly 100 years since the birth of quantum mechanics. In Columbus, the day underscores the work that has helped make Ohio State University a major player in quantum research and central Ohio a growing hub for next-generation technology. At the center of that work is Ohio State's Center for Quantum Information Science and Engineering, known as CQISE, co-led by Ezekiel Johnston-Halperin, a physics professor, and Ronald M. Reano, a professor of electrical and computer engineering. The center brings together researchers across physics, chemistry, mathematics and engineering to advance work in quantum computing, sensing, networking and secure communications. Johnston-Halperin said the field is now entering what researchers call a second quantum revolution, one centered on how quantum information can reshape the same kinds of systems people already rely on every day— computers, communication networks and sensors. "The name uses the word 'information' the same way we use the word in 'information technology,'" Johnston-Halperin said, referring to computers, networks and digital sensors. "What the field is discovering is that there’s a second quantum revolution about how quantum mechanics can fundamentally affect those areas of