{"id":256889,"date":"2025-10-28T16:08:17","date_gmt":"2025-10-28T16:08:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/256889\/"},"modified":"2025-10-28T16:08:17","modified_gmt":"2025-10-28T16:08:17","slug":"stony-brook-opens-new-quantum-design-laboratory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/256889\/","title":{"rendered":"Stony Brook Opens New Quantum Design Laboratory"},"content":{"rendered":"

Insider Brief<\/p>\n

Stony Brook University has opened its new Quantum Design Teaching and Materials Discovery Laboratory, advancing undergraduate education in quantum and materials physics.<\/p>\n

The lab, created in partnership with Quantum Design and Lake Shore Cryotronics, features a Quantum Design VersaLab\u00ae that enables hands-on experiments with superconductivity, magnetism, and other quantum phenomena.<\/p>\n

The initiative reflects a growing emphasis on experiential learning in STEM, giving students access to research-grade equipment and bridging the gap between classroom theory and real-world scientific practice.<\/p>\n

Image: Stony Brook University celebrated its new Quantum Design Teaching and Materials Discovery Laboratory with a ribbon-cutting ceremony October 22. (Photos by John Griffin, Story<\/a> by Beth Squire)<\/p>\n

PRESS RELEASE \u2014 Stony Brook University celebrated the grand opening of its new Quantum Design Teaching and Materials Discovery Laboratory on October 22, marking a major advancement in undergraduate physics education. The lab, located in the\u00a0Department of Physics and Astronomy,<\/a>\u00a0was made possible through a partnership with\u00a0Quantum Design<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Lake Shore Cryotronics<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The lab features a Quantum Design VersaLab\u00ae, an advanced materials characterization system that allows students to conduct hands-on experiments with superconductivity, magnetism, and other quantum phenomena typically used in graduate-level research. The addition of the VersaLab gives undergraduates access to the same kind of cutting-edge equipment used in companies and top research institutions around the world.<\/p>\n

Stony Brook University recently achieved its\u00a0highest-ever placement<\/a>\u00a0in the 2025\u201326\u00a0U.S. News & World Report\u00a0Best Global Universities for Physics<\/a>, ranking 39th worldwide and 19th in the nation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis space isn\u2019t just a lab. It\u2019s a commitment to high-impact learning,\u201d said David Wrobel, dean of the\u00a0College of Arts and Sciences<\/a>. \u201cHere, students will move beyond the classroom to engage directly with the tools and techniques that define modern physics. They\u2019ll gain practical skills, explore real-world applications, and begin to see themselves as scientists in training.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Responsive<\/a><\/p>\n

The ribbon-cutting event featured remarks from Wrobel and Quantum Design CEO Stuart Schoenmann, who said he sees the partnership as part of a broader effort to reimagine science education in an era of rapid technological change. \u201cToday\u2019s students face tremendous challenges,\u201d he said. \u201cOur goal is to help create opportunities for them to think, test, and innovate \u2014 to connect theory and experimentation in real time using tools that make discovery tangible.\u201d<\/p>\n

The celebration also included a symposium highlighting innovative approaches to undergraduate physics education. Speakers included Stephen Tsui of California State University San Marcos, who discussed the Quantum Design Education Initiative; Randy Dumas of Quantum Design, who shared insights into the Discovery Teaching Lab Initiative; Chuck Cimino of Lake Shore Cryotronics, who presented on advanced transport measurements; and Stony Brook Professor Xu Du, who spoke about operating a modern physics teaching lab.<\/p>\n

Stony Brook physics alumnus Stefano Spagna \u201988, vice president of strategy and innovation at Quantum Design, helped bring the partnership to fruition. The collaboration is part of Quantum Design\u2019s Discovery Teaching Lab Initiative, a program that places advanced scientific instruments in teaching environments across the country to inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers.<\/p>\n

Graduate student David Farahmandpour, BS \u201825, who helped create new teaching experiments using the VersaLab, said working with the system helped advance his understanding of physics. As part of his senior laboratory course for physics majors, he developed experiments on superconducting materials and observed behaviors at extremely low temperatures, data that had previously been unavailable to undergraduate students. \u201cWe were able to see superconductivity in real time, watching resistance drop as the material cooled,\u201d he said. \u201cIt made everything we learned in class come alive.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Quantum Design, the Stony Brook lab represents another milestone in its education initiative. Michelle Lehman, animation and video specialist for Quantum Design, who works on the company\u2019s philanthropic education outreach, said the goal is to promote hands-on learning and connect students directly with modern scientific tools. \u201cIt\u2019s about investing in the next generation of scientists and engineers,\u201d she said. \u201cBy giving students access to this equipment now, we\u2019re preparing them to step into research and industry with confidence.\u201d<\/p>\n

The partnership also highlights the growing importance of experiential learning in STEM fields. \u201cWe are deeply grateful to Quantum Design and our collaborators for making this possible,\u201d said Wrobel. \u201cThis new facility will help our students not just learn science, but do science \u2014 and that\u2019s what creates the innovators and problem-solvers of the future.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Insider Brief Stony Brook University has opened its new Quantum Design Teaching and Materials Discovery Laboratory, advancing undergraduate…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":256890,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[9151,199,139118,79,53981],"class_list":{"0":"post-256889","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-physics","8":"tag-materials","9":"tag-physics","10":"tag-quantum-design","11":"tag-science","12":"tag-stony-brook-university"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256889","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=256889"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256889\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/256890"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=256889"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=256889"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=256889"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}