  Quantum information science (QIS) is an emerging interdisciplinary field at
the intersection of physics, computer science, electrical engineering, and
mathematics leveraging the laws of quantum mechanics to circumvent classical
limitations on information processing. With QIS coursework proliferating across
US institutions, including at the undergraduate level, we argue that it is
imperative that ethics and social responsibility be incorporated into QIS
education from the beginning. We discuss ethical issues of particular relevance
to QIS education that educators may wish to incorporate into their curricula.
We then report on findings from focus interviews with six faculty who have
taught introductory QIS courses, focusing on barriers to and opportunities for
incorporation of ethics and social responsibility (ESR) into the QIS classroom.
Few faculty had explicitly considered discussion of ethical issues in the
classroom prior to the interview, yet instructor attitudes shifted markedly in
support of incorporating ESR in the classroom as a result of the interview
process itself. Taking into account faculty's perception of obstacles to
discussing issues of ESR in coursework, we propose next steps toward making ESR
education in the QIS classroom a reality.
