Research in quantum computing is a still-growing field, fueled by interest in both it’s powerful applications and connection to fundamental science.  Qubits, the building blocks of future quantum computers, must both manipulate and protect the quantum information they hold – a task fraught with challenges.  In this talk, I will describe some of the techniques used at Sandia National Laboratories to model and design silicon qubit devices.  Results showing that some aspects of a device’s behavior can be predicted well, while others require further work, will be presented.  About mid-way through the talk, I will switch gears and speak about the distinct but related area of quantum characterization. I will give a brief overview of this field and describe in more detail the Gate Set Tomography (GST) protocol.  GST is designed to aid in debugging qubit devices, and will be related to the microscopic device modeling techniques presented in the first half of the talk.