I am an Assistant Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). I lead the Quantum Algorthmic Science & Engineering (QASE) Lab, where we develop useful applications of quantum computers while deepening our understanding of the physical world through the lens of quantum information.
My research group welcomes applications from highly self-driven students with a passion for quantum science. We also have an opening for postdoctoral scholars to start in 2026 — see this AJO link for details and how to apply!
My research interests are at the interface of physics, math, and computer science, touching on many topics in quantum information theory, mathematical optimization, computational complexity, and many-body physics. My contributions include analyzing quantum algorithms and architectures, as well as proving fundamental results in quantum complexity theory. I also work closely with experimentalists to develop practical schemes of quantum applications for current and near-term experimental implementations.
Prior to UCLA, I was a DuBridge Postdoctoral Scholar at the Walter Burke Institute for Theoretical Physics at Caltech, hosted by John Preskill. I received my PhD in Physics from Harvard University under the guidance of Mikhail Lukin, after obtaining my BSc in Physics and Mathematics at MIT where I also worked with Edward Farhi.
My Erdős number is 3.
News:
- Oct 17, 2025. Our team, Los Quanta, has been selected as a Semifinalist in the XPRIZE Quantum Applications competiton. 133 teams from 31 countries have been competing for a $5M prize, and we're thrilled be among the 20 advancing to the next stage!
- Aug 18, 2025. I will be serving on the program committee for QIP 2026. Looking forward to reading everyone's work!
- May 30, 2025. I am honored to receive a Google Research Scholar Award in Quantum Computing for my proposal "Exploring Quantum Advantages in Optimization: Theory and Practice"!
- Feb 13, 2025. I will be teaching a new undergraduate course, Principles of Quantum Technology (EC ENGR 128), for the spring 2025 quarter at UCLA.
- Dec 13, 2024. Excited to share our new paper on arXiv, "A Quantum Approximate Optimization Algorithm for Local Hamigltonian Problems", with my brilliant mentees Ishaan Kannan and Robbie King!
- Dec 6, 2024. Our paper "Quantum speedups in solving near-symmetric optimization problems by low-depth QAOA" has been accepted to QIP 2025!
- Nov 14, 2024. I will be teaching a special topics course, Physics of Quantum Information and Computation (EC ENGR 279AS), for the winter 2025 quarter at UCLA.
- Sep 26, 2024. Our paper "Statistical Estimation in the Spiked Tensor Model via the Quantum Approximate Optimization Algorithm" has been accepted to NeurIPS 2024 as a spotlight!