Shelby Kimmel was a QuICS Hartree Postdoctoral Fellow in quantum information and computer science. Her research was in quantum tomography procedures and quantum query complexity. Kimmel’s research seeks to create procedures for quantum tomography of processes and states that are either more robust (accurate even in the presence of noise) or more efficient than previous procedures. She was also working to understand the limits of quantum computation, and how quantum computing power compares to classical computing power. Kimmel uses tools such as the adversary bound, span programs, and other techniques to put lower and upper bounds on the number of queries a quantum computer or a classical computer must make to solve a problem. Problems involving formula evaluation and graphs are of particular interest to her. Kimmel received her doctorate in physics from MIT in 2014. After QuICS, she continued on as an Assistant Professor in Computer Science at Middlebury College.
