On 19 May 2023, Elisa Torres Durney received a appreciation letter from Executive Office of the President Ehite House, United States. She received this honor for her contribution to the National Q12 Education Partnership's Video ''What Can You do with Quantum Science'' for World Quantum Day 2023.
The Letter was sent by Charles Tahan (Assistant Director for Quantum Information Science Director, National Quantum Coordination Office).
Letter contains:
"The feedback we have received has been overwhelming positive, including a public middle school teacher who reached out to the Q-12 to express their appreciation for the video. The teacher applauded the diverse representation in the video, noting that roughly 95% of students at their school are African American. The remarked that the video, and other Q-12 activities may inspire their students to one day to pursue a career in Quantum Computing.
Additional engagements from academia, industry, government, the press and the entertainment industry resulted in millions of people learning about quantum science. Compared to last year's World Quantum Day, the uptick in engagement indicates that, thanks to our collective force applied leading up to and on April 14, momentum is growing.
We are planting the seeds of the future quantum workforce, and you should be proud of these achievements. By targeting broader audiences, we are working towards insuring that all Americans have the opportunity to participate in and benefit from quantum science.
Thank You again for making World Quantum Day a success."
Who is Elisa Torres Durney?
Elisa Torres Durney was born in Chile's Valparaíso Region in Viña del Mar. At the Champagnat School in Villa Alemana, Valparaíso Region, she started her education. As the vice president of the student council, she participated in campus life (2022).
Since she was very young, Elisa has been working toward becoming a quantum computing educator. Her early curiosity led to a variety of artistic and scientific pursuits, such as theater clubs, ballet, painting, and do-it-yourself projects. She later discovered a new world when she learned to code. Elisa wanted to make the most of her free time after the COVID-19 pandemic hit and the world went into lockdown, so she started looking for educational opportunities. Her search for an introductory course on quantum computing opened a new chapter in her life.
Elisa started Girls in Quantum in an effort to spark girls' interest in technology and demonstrate how enjoyable and fascinating the field can be. She started creating blogs and videos to describe the various aspects of this field, such as quantum computing in pharmaceutics and Qubits, bits, and quantum cryptography. Elisa received three messages of interest from girls in Africa, Spain, and the USA after she shared her videos with others. They were the first to represent Girls in Quantum as ambassadors. Girls in Quantum has grown to include students from 11 different countries on its team through a great deal of hard work and cooperation. Together, they have made the organization an international one that provides free educational resources in Tamil, English, and Spanish to students in 21 different countries.
In order to disseminate all of this information, Elisa created the www.girlsinquantum.com website, which showcases the various endeavors that Girls in Quantum has undertaken. The group works with businesses and organizations like IBM, Perimeter Institute, Le Wagon, and Inspiring Girls to provide educational content and plan international events in order to fulfill its mission of democratizing education and assisting in the closing of the gender gap in STEM. In addition to being a quantum computing instructor, Elisa is dedicated to encouraging students' development and engagement, especially those of a younger gender. She exhorts students to accept gender, socioeconomic, and educational differences in quantum computing. Additionally, Elisa has had the chance to speak at gatherings put on by Qureca, IBM, Google, The Economist, The International Festival for Social Innovation in Chile, and the Women Economic Forum. Elisa accepted an invitation from the University of Illinois to appear in a video featuring IBM quantum leader Olivia Lanes, Star Trek actor LeVar Burton, and NASA astronaut Josh Cassada for World Quantum Day.
