{"id":238039,"date":"2025-11-17T07:35:19","date_gmt":"2025-11-17T12:35:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=238039"},"modified":"2025-11-17T11:31:28","modified_gmt":"2025-11-17T16:31:28","slug":"uconn-state-embrace-ai-and-quantum-potential","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2025\/11\/uconn-state-embrace-ai-and-quantum-potential\/","title":{"rendered":"UConn, State Embrace AI and Quantum Potential"},"content":{"rendered":"

UConn and its many collaborators throughout the state are leading the effort to educate workers with the skills they need to advance in an evolving economy, especially in the growing areas of artificial intelligence and quantum technology.<\/p>\n

State, municipal, University, and tech industry leaders explored the state\u2019s changing workforce during UConn\u2019s second Economic Development Forum on Nov. 13. Held in Stamford, the event examined how AI and quantum are transforming the workforce, requiring employees and jobseekers to be more tech savvy than ever before.<\/p>\n

The AI and quantum industries are skyrocketing, explained UConn President Radenka Maric to hundreds of attendees. Connecticut is well suited to make advancements, with the potential for massive positive impact.<\/p>\n

\"Stamford
Mayor of Stamford Caroline Simmons speaks during UConn’s Economic Development Forum at Serafresca at the IC in Stamford on Thursday, Nov. 13, 2025. (Sydney Herdle\/UConn Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cWhat are the quantum computers and how they are going to change the world? They will exponentially change the speed that we discover many good things,\u201d Maric said. She cited several important Connecticut industries, such as health care and finance, where AI and quantum are making profound progress.<\/p>\n

Maric highlighted University\u2019s importance to the state, including an $8.7 billion economic impact and wide network of alumni, she said. More than 50% of Connecticut\u2019s engineers were educated at UConn.<\/p>\n

As AI and quantum grow as industries, the ability to work with major employers will be critical to success. \u201cThe keywords for our state are collaboration and partnership,\u201d she said. Maric added that Connecticut\u2019s small size and proximity to tech hubs like New York City give the state an advantage of places like California, Colorado, Illinois, where large quantum and AI investments are also underway, but geography is not conducive to connectivity.<\/p>\n

Rapid Growth in Stamford<\/strong><\/p>\n

UConn\u2019s Stamford campus is the second largest in the state behind Storrs, with more than 3,000 students enrolled. The city is the state\u2019s fastest growing tech sectors, with digital media, finance, and others providing thriving opportunities for internships and postgraduate employment.<\/p>\n

\u201cCompanies in Stamford provide students with real world experiences as they pursue their education, as well as job opportunities once they graduate,\u201d said Mayor Caroline Simmons. \u201cWe want to continue to expand workforce development partnerships and job trading initiatives between UConn and businesses and our region, so that we can create ladders of economic opportunity for our students.\u201d<\/p>\n

Simmons said the city projects that nine out of 10 local jobs will require workers with advanced technical skills. It\u2019s a pivotal moment and another \u201cindustrial revolution,\u201d she continued, with tremendous opportunity for Stamford and Connecticut.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’ve lived through three great industrial revolutions, mechanization, electrical, and the Internet. Each changed the way we worked, built, and connected with one another,\u201d Simmons said. \u201cBut the fourth Industrial Revolution, the one we are in right now, is different. It’s driven not by invention, but by a fusion of technologies, like artificial intelligence, quantum computing, biotechnology, and robotics.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"UConn
Campus Dean & Chief Administrative Officer of UConn Stamford Jennifer Orlikoff speaks during UConn’s Economic Development Forum at Serafresca at the IC in Stamford on Thursday, Nov. 13, 2025. (Sydney Herdle\/UConn Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

UConn Stamford Dean and Chief Administrative Officer Jennifer Orlikoff said that the campus offers excellent partnerships with Stamford companies and has become part of the community, with more than 800 students living in UConn housing and a large increase in applications and enrollment.<\/p>\n

“We are truly becoming a destination campus,” Orlikoff said.<\/p>\n

Guidance from Big Tech<\/strong><\/p>\n

The forum included keynote addresses from executives at Google and Indeed, who offered insights on AI and quantum utilization as well as hiring and skillset trends.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really feel like I\u2019m here with my people when I listen to the type of innovation and the type of lean-in that we\u2019re looking for,\u201d said Google Director of Customer Engineering Christopher Mende.<\/p>\n

Customer engineering focuses on needs of users and intents and then building the technology to help. AI platforms, such as Google\u2019s Gemini, are designed with these principles in mind, and Mende encouraged attendees to grasp those tools.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat platform is about bringing together those models, those individual shiny objects and neat things which have value on their own and connecting them with the right data sets and applications to allow you to manage them in a very cohesive manner to build effective solutions,\u201d Mende said.<\/p>\n

Indeed has emerged as the country\u2019s largest job searching websites. Product director Elizabeth Lattanzio shared emerging trends among hirers, with skills in AI and quantum at the top of the list. She likened the importance of AI literacy to Microsoft Excel skills 20 years ago, especially in most tech fields.<\/p>\n

\"Indeed
Product Director at Indeed Elizabeth Lattanzio speaks during UConn’s Economic Development Forum at Serafresca at the IC in Stamford on Thursday, Nov. 13, 2025. (Sydney Herdle\/UConn Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Lattanzio reassured the audience that AI is not usurping employment opportunities from workers, especially in fields like nursing that require human interaction and soft skills.<\/p>\n

\u201cHere’s the headline and the thing that I want everybody to kind of take away from here,\u201d Lattanzio said. \u201cAI is not going to replace your jobs. At least not yet, or at least for the foreseeable future.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lattanzio agreed that Connecticut has advantages in the AI workforce, referencing a highly educated populace and existing influence in regulated fields like healthcare and aerospace.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere’s already a big push for talent ecosystem, for AI, through various programs, which is really exciting to see,\u201d Lattanzio said. \u201cWhen it comes to it, Connecticut is way ahead of the curve on pushing towards this AI growth for the state, which is really exciting to see.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Economics Forum in Stamford underscores UConn\u2019s role as educator and driver of next generation workforce.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":166,"featured_media":238046,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":2076,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1866,1731,2192,2650,2673,2076,2235,174,2227,2233],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[2381],"class_list":["post-238039","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-engr","category-entrepreneurship","category-fairfield-county","category-blue-impact","category-quantum","category-research","category-today-homepage","category-uconn-stamford","category-uconn-edu-homepage","category-university-news"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-23 15:22:57","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238039","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/166"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=238039"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238039\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":238047,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238039\/revisions\/238047"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/238046"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=238039"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=238039"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=238039"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=238039"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=238039"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}