Current Members

Contact: thomas.smith@yale.edu

Tom received a PhD in Physics from the University of Sydney in 2021, followed by a postdoc from 2022–2024. His research focuses on the physical implementations of quantum computing. Throughout his PhD and postdoc, Tom has worked on the theory of qubits encoded semiconductor quantum dots, topological nanowires, rare-earth ions, and superconducting circuits. His current research is concerned with the design and control of noise-tailored superconducting qubits, and their integration with quantum error-correcting codes.

Contact: ivan.rojkov@yale.edu

I received a Bachelor’s degree in Physics from EPFL (Lausanne, Switzerland) and a Master’s degree from ETH Zurich (Zurich, Switzerland). In July 2025, I obtained a Ph.D. in Physics at ETH Zurich in the group of Prof. Jonathan Home (Trapped Ion Quantum Information group). My research lies at the interface of theoretical quantum optics and quantum information science, with a focus on fault-tolerant quantum information processing. I want to understand how environmental interactions shape quantum systems and to develop strategies that either harness or suppress dissipation to protect and manipulate quantum information

Contact: margaret.pavlovich@yale.edu

Margaret grew up on Long Island, in New York. After receiving an SB in Physics at MIT, she worked at MIT Lincoln Lab in the Optical Communication group, building a testbed for quantum communication. She graduated with a PhD in Applied Physics from Yale, advised by Shruti Puri and Peter Rakich. Her work brings together optomechanics, integrated photonics, and quantum error correction. In her free time, Margaret enjoys playing French horn and reading science fiction.

Contact: pei-kai.tsai@yale.edu

Pei-Kai is a Ph.D. student in Applied Physics department. He grew up in Taiwan and received his B.S. in Physics and B.E. in Electrical Engineering from National Taiwan University. As an undergraduate, he focused on variational quantum algorithms for chemical simulation on near-term quantum devices. Here at Yale, he is working on topological error correction codes and their performances under biased noise.

Contact: q.su@yale.edu

Qile is a Ph.D. student in the Physics department. He received his BS in Physics from UCLA in 2021. His undergraduate research focused on single-qubit composite pulses that are robust to low frequency noise in the controls. He has an interest in quantum optics and open quantum systems. At Yale, Qile is working on adiabatic quantum computing using Kerr-cat qubits.

Contact: kaavya.sahay@yale.edu

Kaavya grew up in Ahmedabad, India. She obtained a B.Tech in Engineering Physics with a minor in computer science from IIT Delhi. As an undergraduate, Kaavya interned at the Quantum Theory Group at the University of Sydney, where she worked in quantum error correction. Having begun her graduate studies in Applied Physics at Yale in 2021, she is currently exploring decoder design and tailoring QEC to hardware.

Contact: katie.chang@yale.edu

Kathleen (Katie) is a graduate student of the Physics Ph.D. program. She completed her Bachelors of Science in Physics at the University in Virginia in 2021 with a specialty in computational medical physics. She is investigating topological codes, specifically 3D surface code performance under biased noise. She likes to get involved in student government, draw, and learn instruments in her spare time.

Contact: harsh.babla@yale.edu

Harsh is a Ph.D. student in Applied Physics from Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. He is primarily interested in co-designing superconducting qubit architectures for error-correction codes, with close collaborations with the Schoelkopf group. He has worked on measurement based quantum computing bosonic error-correction codes. Lately, he is working on fast leakage-free measurements for superconducting qubits. Prior to joining Yale, he completed a bachelors in Electrical Engineering at Princeton University. While at Princeton, he worked on novel material platforms for superconducting circuits with Andrew Houck.

Contact: hanna.westerheim@yale.edu

Hanna Westerheim is a Ph.D. student in the Applied Physics Department. Originally from Massachusetts, she earned her B.S. in Engineering Physics with Honors from Cornell University, along with a minor in Computer Science. During her undergraduate studies, she focused on developing variational quantum algorithms to solve semi-definite and linear programs on near-term quantum devices.

Nuri Kang is a Ph.D. student in the Applied Physics department. He grew up in Busan, South Korea. He received his B.S. in Applied Physics from Kyung-Hee University and his M.S. in Physics from Korea University. He conducted research at the Center for Quantum Technology at KIST from his undergraduate through master’s years, focusing on linear-optical architectures for fault-tolerant quantum computing with fusion-based schemes and continuous-variable code qubits, including GKP and cat codes.

Tyler is a Ph.D. student in the Physics department. He completed a B.S. in Astrophysics at UCLA in 2023 before obtaining an M.S. in Physics from California State University, Long Beach in 2025. He has previously worked on developing ML based correlation identification methods for plasma devices and spectroscopy based analysis techniques for quantum materials research. At Yale, Tyler is working on generalized optimal unitary circuit synthesis.

Runjiang obtained a Bachelor of Science in Applied Physics from the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC). At Yale, his research focuses on quantum error correction, including quantum LDPC codes, decoders, and biased noise. He is also co-advised by Peter Rakich. In his free time, Runjiang enjoys playing and watching soccer.

Shwetlana Jha is a third year undergraduate student at Yale University majoring in Mathematics and Physics. She is originally from New York City and is passionate about the intersection of physics, math, and computer science. Currently, she is interested in quantum error correction and is doing theory research at the Yale Quantum Institute.