Meet IQUIST's newest members
12/1/2023
This year, the Illinois Quantum Science and Technology Center added four new researchers. In interviews with IQUIST, each discussed their achievements prior to coming to Illinois and their future paths in quantum.
Chris Anderson
Dr. Chris Anderson is an assistant professor in Materials Science & Engineering and has a lab, which is currently accepting MatSE, ECE, and Physics students.
Anderson is an Intelligence Community Postdoctoral research fellow in Jelena Vučković’s group at Stanford where he explores how photonics can overcome outstanding challenges in quantum science and technology. He is also the co-founder of the Open Quantum Initiative, which focuses on enhancing diversity, equity, and inclusion within quantum science. Additionally, a recipient of a 2022 Quantum Creators Prize, Anderson received his Ph.D. in physics from the University of Chicago under David Awschalom, where he was awarded an NDSEG fellowship for research on solid-state electron spin qubits. IQUIST: What made you interested in quantum? Anderson: My path to quantum was somewhat winding. I started out in molecular biology research, switched to chemistry with ultrafast lasers, and finally ended up working on more fundamental solid-state physics. Afterwards, in graduate school, I joined a highly interdisciplinary group in an engineering school that worked on quantum science. I began in this group mainly viewing myself as a pure “physicist.” However, over the years watching this field grow, I was drawn into the fascinating world of quantum– where we can engineer cutting-edge technologies that apply physical principles with the potential for societal impact. This resulted in me transitioning into an electrical engineering department during my postdoc and then to the materials science and engineering department I call home today. IQUIST: What is your favorite part of your work/research? Anderson: The favorite part of my work is the opportunity to build teams, collaborate with colleagues, mentor students, and unleash my creativity to solve challenging problems. These aspects of academia are what make research so exciting and rewarding. IQUIST: What impact do you hope your work will have on the world? Anderson: I hope my work will address the core challenges currently limiting the potential of quantum technologies, with a specific focus on manipulating light and new materials to enhance quantum computers, sensors, and communications channels. Ultimately, my goal is to contribute to the development of a quantum internet. This technology has the potential to revolutionize society by ensuring ultra-secure encryption for privacy, more powerful quantum computers, and better distributed sensors of our natural world. In the same way we couldn't have predicted at inception what the regular internet would become today, I believe in the potential of the new quantum internet to provide humanity with new functionalities that can advance society. IQUIST: What career would you want to pursue if you were not in this line of work? Anderson: If I were not in this line of work, I would have worked for a quantum company like Google or Amazon or explored building my own quantum startup. I think bringing these technologies out of the lab and into the world is very exciting. Alternatively, I'm also interested in AI, particularly in developing the enabling hardware and technology, as I believe it holds similar transformative potential to quantum technology. |
Makrand Sinha
Dr. Makrand Sinha is an assistant professor in the Department of Computer Science.
Makrand Sinha was previously a Simons-Berkeley postdoctoral fellow at the Simons Institute at UC Berkeley and a postdoctoral researcher in the Networks and Optimization group at Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica in Amsterdam. From Sinha’s website, he explains how his research revolves around theoretical computer science. “My primary research interests lie in the foundations of quantum and classical computation and optimization, and specifically in understanding the relative power of quantum vs classical algorithms and communication protocols, understanding limitations of various approaches in optimization such as Linear or Semidefinite Programs, and designing algorithms for various optimization problems.” Sinha received his PhD in 2018 from Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering at University of Washington in Seattle under Anup Rao. IQUIST: What made you interested in quantum? Sinha: I was captivated by the rich interplay between mathematics, physics and computer science that quantum complexity theory embodies. IQUIST: What is your favorite part of your work/research? Sinha: A breakthrough moment when a complex issue yields to a simple, elegant insight. IQUIST: What impact do you hope your work will have on the world? Sinha: I hope we gain some fundamental insights into the practical applicability of quantum computers. IQUIST: What is the best piece of advice you’ve ever received? Sinha: "If you can't explain something in simple terms, you don't understand it" IQUIST: What career would you want to pursue if you were not in this line of work? Sinha: Probably a writer. Creating intricate, imaginative characters and stories offers a different way to explore complex ideas and possibilities. |
Amanda Young
Dr. Amanda Young is an assistant professor in Mathematics.
“After receiving my PhD from UC Davis in 2016 under Bruno Nachtergaele, I was a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the University of Arizona from 2016-2019 with Robert Sims. I then held a jointly appointed postdoc at the Munich Center for Quantum Science and Technology and the Technical University of Munich from 2016-2023 where I worked in the group of Simone Warzel before moving to University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign,” Young said. Her research interest focuses on the classification of gapped ground state phases of quantum matter and relates to questions of spectral and dynamical properties of quantum lattice models. Part of her research program works to develop methods for proving the existence of a nonvanishing gap above the ground state energy for quantum lattice models. The second half of her research investigates stable properties of gapped quantum lattice models. IQUIST: What made you interested in quantum? Young: Developing new quantum technologies is an exciting research frontier, and its theory leads to interesting and challenging mathematical questions. Beyond the enjoyment of seeing how my work directly is motivated from and contributes to this exciting area, the specific tools used to address these questions can come from a variety of mathematics. This lends to a creative diversity in this work which I find inspiring and fulfilling. IQUIST: What is the best piece of advice you've ever received? Young: Do not be afraid to make mistakes - you gain a lot of insight and knowledge from errors that is often helpful later on. IQUIST: If you could have dinner with anyone worldwide, who would it be? Young: Malala Yousafzai. She is so young and has already lived such an extraordinary life. It would be an honor to have a conversation with her. |
Pengjie Wang
Dr. Pengjie Wang is an assistant professor in the Department of Physics.
Pengjie Wang was previously a post-doctoral research scholar in condense matter physics at Princeton University, working with Professor Sanfeng Wu. His research focused on 2D materials and high electron mobility semiconductors. According to his website, he’s interested in the phenomena that develop under strong correlations and topology, including the quantum Hall effect, superconductivities and magnetisms. IQUIST: What made you interested in quantum? Wang: My interest in quantum started when I attended a public lecture given by Klaus von Klitzing. He introduced the integer quantum Hall effect. I was completely shocked when I first saw the quantized Hall plateaus. I thought I knew quantum then while obviously I didn't know quantum then. This experience motivated me to learn more and more about quantum physics, and devoted to work on it for my life. IQUIST: What impact do you hope your work will have on the world? Wang: I hope one of my works can be included into textbook. IQUIST: What is the best piece of advice you’ve ever received? Wang: Think the opposite. This helps me to get a more comprehensive understanding of objects. IQUIST: What career would you want to pursue if you were not in this line of work? Wang: If I were not in this line of work, I want to be a product manager to develop world changing products. |