PSC sophomore Christina Chakar, along with PSC Professors Ashlea Rundlett (graduate director for the MA in International Relations program) and Brian Krueger (director of the newly instituted Computational Social Science PhD program), won a Amazon Web Services + Institute for Advanced Computing Research (IACR) Quantum-Humanities Award and a Social Science Institute for Research, Education, and Policy Faculty Seed Grant for the project “Does Great Power Competition Transform Public Attitudes Toward Strategic Technologies?”
Chakar will work on the project with Professors Rundlett and Krueger this upcoming year and present the results at the next World Quantum Day Celebration in April 2027. Professor Krueger will also undertake a directed study in the fall 2026 semester with Christina on related topics.
The project examines how geopolitical competition influences public attitudes toward emerging technologies, such as quantum computing and artificial intelligence. While concerns about the risks associated with these technologies often generate support for regulation and oversight, political leaders and technology advocates frequently argue that the United States must accelerate development to remain competitive with rival nations. The research seeks to understand how awareness of international competition shapes public willingness to support government efforts to fast-track technological development.
To investigate these questions, the research team will conduct survey experiments examining how Americans respond to information about U.S.-China competition in quantum computing and artificial intelligence. By comparing public attitudes across both technologies, the project aims to provide new insights into how geopolitical rivalry influences perceptions of technological innovation, risk, and national competitiveness.
As part of the Quantum-Humanities Award, Chakar will receive hand-on training in survey design, experimental research methods, pre-registration , research ethics, and public communication. She will work closely with her fellow investigators throughout the 2026-27 academic year, contributing to all stages of the project, from survey development and data collection to analysis and presentation of findings. This award recognizes both Chakar’s academic achievements and the growing role that undergraduate researchers play in addressing complex questions at the intersection of technological developments, public opinion, and politics.
For Chakar, the project represents an opportunity to engage in professional-level research with faculty mentors while connecting her interests in political science, criminal justice, technology, and law:
“As a political science and criminal justice major, this opportunity is meaningful for both my academic and personal growth. Being involved in a professional level research project with the support of faculty mentors, Professors Ashlea Rundlett and Brian Krueger, allows me to engage in academic research in a deep way while also exploring connections between physics, emerging technologies, political science, and criminal justice that I had not previously considered. Quantum computing, in particular, stands out to me because of its potential impact on cybersecurity, privacy, government decision making, and international relations, all of which connect closely to my academic interests and future goal of attending law school. As these technologies continue to develop, they will likely raise important legal and policy questions surrounding regulation, security, ethics, and individual rights, which makes understanding these issues especially meaningful to me as I continue working toward a future career in law. This is also why the interdisciplinary nature of this project is so important and interesting to me. While physics helps advance technologies like quantum computing and artificial intelligence, fields like political science and criminal justice allow for a deeper examination into how these developments may influence public policy, cybersecurity, legal systems, and society as a whole. Studying these issues through multiple disciplines will be vital to employing technological systems that maintain security, ethics, and individual rights in the future. The value of collaboration between physics and the social sciences is especially evident in research like this, which makes me even more excited to present the research findings at World Quantum Day and contribute to important interdisciplinary conversations surrounding rapidly developing technologies.”
Additional information about the project is included below:
Does Great Power Competition Transform Public Attitudes Toward Strategic Technologies?
Co-PIs: Christina Chakar, Political Science and Criminology and Criminal Justice Double Major; Associate Professor Ashlea Rundlett, Department of Political Science
Co-Investigator: Professor Brian Krueger, Department of Political Science
“The country that achieves supremacy in quantum computing (and AI) will play an oversized role in how the digital economy is encrypted; unlock transformative advances in materials science, energy production, and medical research; and secure disproportionate and likely enduring advantages in intelligence collection and precision targeting”
– U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission of the US Congress 11/18/2025
Abstract
Our proposed project studies how great power rivalry shapes public support for the development of strategic technologies. Awareness of technological risk should ordinarily activate precautionary preferences, including public support for regulation and oversight. Yet on emerging, high-stakes technologies like quantum computing (QC) and artificial intelligence (AI), many tech leaders and politicians argue that the United States must fast-track development because rival nations will otherwise achieve supremacy. Under what conditions does the public accept this argument?
We argue that great power rivalry changes how people evaluate emerging technologies by shifting attention from the risks of rapid technological development to the risks of falling behind a rival. Absent rivalry considerations, people choose between permitting continued development with minimal regulation versus slowing development to reduce risk. When rivalry is salient, people may view the policy choice as a contest over whether the United States or China will achieve technological supremacy first. With rivalry, slowing U.S. technological development may not register as reducing risk, as it would give China a comparative advantage, making people more willing to support fewer safeguards and faster advancement.
The project fields two parallel pre-registered survey experiments, one on QC and the other AI. Our surveys will include about 3,000 respondents total. This design helps us see whether rivalry changes the way people in the U.S. understand the policy choice.
The project also advances the undergraduate-training goals of the Quantum & Humanities Mini-Grant. Christina Chakar will serve as an undergraduate Co-PI and will receive direct training in survey design, experimental ethics, pre-registration, and public communication about quantum technologies. She will participate in developing the treatment vignettes, drafting pre-treatment awareness measures and outcome batteries, preparing the pre-registration, piloting the instrument, interpreting treatment effects, and translating the findings for presentation.