Future electronics will increasingly rely on the ability to exploit quantum phenomena of both electrons and photons in integrated devices. In recent years, there have been a number of proof-of-concept demonstrations of how such phenomena may be used for applications in the areas of spintronics and quantum information processing. But scalable, integrated, room-temperature devices present challenges that idealized proof-of-concept devices do not. This seminar will focus on recent progress in understanding coherent electron spin phenomena in semiconductor nanocrystals (NCs), and the potential therein for room-temperature ambient applications. The discovery of robust room-temperature spin coherence in NCs in the late 90s [J. Gupta et al., Phys. Rev. B 59, R10421 (1999)] opened the door to the exploration of coherent spin phenomena that exploit the full flexibility of chemically synthesized NC systems. These include electrical and chemical doping, enhancement of the spin/photon interaction via integrated optical cavities, and the use of core/shell heterostructures to tailor wavefunctions and their environment.