MTSU magazine’s summer 2025 edition spotlights quantum science, academic programs

The future of quantum computing is indeed the stuff of fantasy and science fiction. And MTSU researcher Hanna Terletska, leader of MTSU’s Quantum Science Initiative and an associate professor of Physics, is doggedly pursuing it. In her research funded by $5.5 million from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and Department of Energy (DOE), Terletska collaborates with scholars from places like Carnegie Mellon University, Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), and Augsburg University in Germany, using access to the world’s most powerful computers to research quantum materials that hold the promise of new-generation technologies.

**Click the cover the access an electronic flip-page version of the magazine.**

The cover story of the Summer 2025 edition of MTSU magazine details Terletska’s research efforts. It also explores how MTSU’s quantum focus is not just about scientific breakthroughs but also teaching the science. Perfectly aligned with its original charter as a teacher training school founded in 1911, MTSU has positioned itself as the statewide leader in preparing a “ready-to-work” workforce for an inevitable future where quantum science and computing revolutionizes industries as far ranging as health care to cybersecurity.

MTSU is also becoming a national leader in training teachers how to teach quantum physics, a crucial educational component in the quest to fully realize quantum’s potential.

Other stories in the current edition include:

• Profiles of six other MTSU-connected researchers playing a pivotal role in boosting the food supply, solving issues related to literacy, making aviation safer, helping sex trafficking victims, improving weather forecasting, and wielding artificial intelligence in health care.

• A look at 18 academic programs at MTSU that don’t always get the marketing love they deserve but are incredibly valuable degrees sure to benefit any graduate.

• Class Notes — updates on the status of MTSU alumni achievers around the globe.

This screen grab from the summer 2025 digital edition of MTSU magazine spotlights Middle Tennessee State University-connected researchers who are working on projects to improve people’s lives. (Courtesy of MTSU magazine)

Printed copies of the Summer editions of MTSU magazine are distributed to approximately 125,000 alumni readers. Winter editions of the magazine are now limited to alumni and friends who are active donors, new graduates (who receive a three-year subscription), members of the MTSU Foundation and Alumni Association boards, various advisory boards, and the Blue Raider Athletic Association, and participants/attendees at major MTSU events.

A web-only, flip version of the entire magazine is available here.

— Drew Ruble (Drew.Ruble@mtsu.edu)