While most drivers in D.C. get frustrated by narrow streets and unpredictable traffic jams, Cameron Lewis — a 2025 electrical engineering doctoral candidate at Howard University — sees patterns, problems, and possibilities.
His research zeroes in on one high-stakes scenario: how to clear paths for emergency vehicles using advanced sensors and quantum-enhanced mapping.
“How can I think about it beforehand,” he asks, “before you hear the siren and suddenly everyone’s scrambling, getting mad at each other?”
While most drivers already reroute instinctively, Lewis envisions a future where sensors alert drivers to approaching emergency vehicles, allowing GPS to reroute traffic before congestion builds — keeping both drivers and responders moving freely. It’s a quantum challenge.
Lewis presented his research at the inaugural HBCU CHIPS Network Conference April 3, a landmark event bringing together over 20 HBCUs, industry leaders, and federal partners to advance semiconductor research and high-tech workforce development. The conference was a highlight of Howard Research Month and underscored the university’s newly earned R1 status for top-tier research.
The CHIPS conference featured breakout sessions on topics ranging from quantum photonics to artificial intelligence in chip design and showcased research from HBCU faculty and students like Lewis. University leaders emphasize that achieving top research status helps create career opportunities for students in a competitive, rapidly growing field supported by federal funding.
“This network of HBCU researchers didn’t just emerge overnight — it was seeded years ago by visionaries and has now grown into something truly historic,” said Bruce Jones, senior vice president of the Office of Research. “At Howard University, we’re not just advancing science and innovation; we’re shaping the future of our nation’s research and economic competitiveness.”
Lewis’s doctoral research centers on quantum information science, which looks at the tiniest element in a system to figure out how it affects the whole. He likens it to watching how one car behaves on a highway to better manage overall traffic.
As a “hardware guy,” he said he remains driven to build real, tangible solutions, not just simulations or theories. In his doctoral research project, Lewis is applying these principles to lidar, a light-based sensor used in robotics. By using quantum concepts like entanglement — where two photons remain connected across distance — he hopes to make 3D maps more accurate and responsive, particularly in high-stakes situations involving emergency vehicles.
