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There is a well-known saying, of disputed origin, that dissuades students and even working physicists from thinking too deeply about the meaning behind quantum physics. “Shut up and calculate,” it goes.

There is a well-known saying, of disputed origin, that dissuades students and even working physicists from thinking too deeply about the meaning behind quantum physics. “Shut up and calculate,” it goes.

JQI Fellow Jay Sau has been appointed the newest UMD Co-Director of JQI. He assumed the role on January 1, 2022.

Two JQI Fellows are included on the Clarivate Web of Science Group’s 2021 list of Highly Cited Researchers, which recognizes influential scientists for their highly cited papers over the preceding decade. The two researchers are Sankar Das Sarma, who is also the Director of the Condensed Matter Theory Center and the Richard E. Prange Chair and Distinguished University Professor of Physics at the University of Marlyand (UMD), and Christopher Monroe, who is also a College Park Professor.

JQI Fellow Mohammad Hafezi has been elected as a Fellow of the American Physical Society (APS). He was cited for “pioneering theoretical and experimental work in topological photonics and quantum synthetic matter.”

JQI Fellow Alicia Kollár has received a prestigious Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for a proposal aimed at developing a new window into the physics of particles interacting inside of materials and performing educational outreach. The award will provide $675,000 of funding over five years for her proposal titled “Engineering Interacting Photons in Superconducting-Circuit Lattices.” Kollár will use the funds to investigate new physics that might be revealed by making particles of light (called photons) behave more like particles of matter (like electrons). Her plan is to tailor environments for photons by combining superconducting components into specialized circuits. 

Alexey Gorshkov, a physicist at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and a Fellow of the Joint Quantum Institute (JQI) and the Joint Center for Quantum Information and Computer Science (QuICS), is among 12 exceptional public servants chosen to receive the Arthur S. Flemming Award for 2020. The awardees will be honored during a virtual celebration this summer.

Timothy Qian, a senior at Montgomery Blair High School, has been named a finalist in the Regeneron Science Talent Search (STS) 2021 competition for the research from his summer research internship at the University of Maryland. He performed the work with the mentorship of JQI Fellow Alexey Gorshkov, who is also a physicist at the National Institute of Standards and Technology and a Fellow of the Joint Center for Quantum Information and Computer Science, and Jacob Bringewatt, a graduate student in physics at UMD. He developed a procedure for using networks of quantum sensors to perform optimal measurements of things like the electric field generated at a particular point by a distribution of electrons or the magnetic field produced by atomic nuclei. 

JQI Fellow Jake Taylor has been recognized by the federal government for his role in expanding U.S. policy and efforts in the fiercely competitive field of quantum information science. Taylor, who is also a physicist at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), is the recipient of the 2020 Gold Medal Award from the Department of Commerce.

JQI Fellow Alicia Kollár has been awarded a grant by the Air Force’s Young Investigator Research Program (YIP). She is one of 36 early-career researchers around the US to receive the three-year, $450,000 award.