Chris is a theoretical physicist working at the intersection of statistical physics, condensed matter physics, and quantum computing. He is interested in the macroscopic structures which emerge from microscopic building blocks and how those structures can be designed & utilized, particularly in systems with quenched disorder and/or chaotic dynamics. Specific subjects include the dynamics of mean-field spin glasses & their relevance for optimization problems, formation of polaritons in strongly-correlated materials and Rydberg gases, and the application of statistical physics & many-body techniques to population dynamics. Chris obtained his PhD from the University of Washington in 2018, supervised by Chris Laumann (now at Boston University), before joining NIST and JQI as an NRC Postdoctoral Fellow from 2021 to 2023). He is a faculty member at Michigan State University.
