APS Industry Mentorship Program Bolsters the Career of an Aspiring Quantum Scientist

Enrique Segura Carrillo knew he wanted a career in industry, but he needed help getting there.

By Tawanda W. Johnson | July 13, 2023

Credit: Los Alamos National Laboratory

Enrique Segura Carrillo

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In 2018, Enrique Segura Carrillo knew he wanted a physics career in industry — but he needed help getting there.

“I needed a mentor who . . . understood how the marketplace works — how to convert research experiences in the labs to a resume that is attractive to industry,” said Segura Carrillo, a graduate student in physics at the University of Colorado, Boulder, who also conducts research at Los Alamos National Laboratory and JILA.

For support, he turned to APS’s Industry Mentoring Program (IMPact). The program, started in 2015, connects students and early-career physicists with industrial physicists. Over three or four months, the industrial physicists advise mentees on resumes, conferences, projects, and more.

The program is the brainchild of Matthew Thompson, vice president of Systems Engineering at Zap Energy, who also previously chaired APS’s Committee on Careers and Professional Development and APS’s Forum on Industrial and Applied Physics.

Through IMPact, Thompson and Segura Carrillo, who wants to become a quantum computer scientist, connected in 2018.

“He gave me feedback about my personal statement, about how to make the most of my time [during a fellowship] at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, and how to approach the next steps of heading to a master’s program to prepare for a future PhD application process,” recalled Segura Carrillo.

While working toward his master’s degree, which he earned in 2021, Segura Carrillo obtained real industry experience at The Aerospace Corporation, where he interned in the company’s Physical Sciences Laboratories.

That year, Segura Carrillo connected with John Teufel, group leader at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Boulder, who helped him apply for his PhD at the University of Colorado, Boulder.