The Open Quantum Initiative (OQI) Undergraduate Fellowship offers undergraduate students the opportunity to gain research experiences working in a quantum science laboratory or research group.
Ahnnika Hess
Home Institution: Illinois Wesleyan University
Major: Physics and Studio Art
OQI Institution: Northwestern University
Faculty Mentor: Prem Kumar
Ali Bo Khamseen
Home Institution: The University of Texas at Austin
Major: Physics
OQI Institution: Purdue University
Faculty Mentor: Hadiseh Alaeian
Atish Bhungalia
Home Institution: University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Major: Physics
OQI Institution: Purdue University
Faculty Mentor: Hadiseh Alaeian and Shengwang Du
Bikrant Bhattacharyya
Home Institution: California Institute of Technology
Major: Physics
OQI Institution: Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory
Faculty Mentor: Doga M. Kurkcuoglu
Boyle Chen
Home Institution: Purdue University
Major: Physics and Mathematics
OQI Institution: Purdue University
Faculty Mentor: Erica Carlson
Carl Audric Guia
Home Institution: Harvard University
Major: Physics and Astrophysics
OQI Institution: University of Chicago
Faculty Mentor: Shuolong Yang
Cece DiSibio
Home Institution: Colorado School of Mines
Major: Engineering Physics
OQI Institution: Argonne National Laboratory
Faculty Mentor: Youngjun Ahn
Chelsie Hadley
Home Institution: Western Illinois University
Major: Physics
OQI Institution: Argonne National Laboratory
Faculty Mentor: Supratik Guha
Chong-Yi Su
Home Institution: Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology
Major: Electrical Engineering and Physics
OQI Institution: The Ohio State University
Faculty Mentor: Ron Reano
Elio Thadhani
Home Institution: Harvey Mudd College
Major: Physics
OQI Institution: University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Faculty Mentor: Eric Chitambar
Fataiya Salifu
Home Institution: Washington University in Saint Louis
Major: Electrical Engineering
OQI Institution: The Ohio State University
Faculty Mentor: Ezekiel Johnston-Halperin
Itzel Ruiz Barrera
Home Institution: Illinois Institute of Technology
Major: Applied Physics
OQI Institution: University of Wisconsin–Madison
Faculty Mentor: Randall Goldsmith
Jade Ocampo
Home Institution: Wilbur Wright College
Major: Mechanical Engineering
OQI Institution: University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Faculty Mentor: Daniel Shoemaker
James-Lucius Okenwa
Home Institution: Case Western Reserve University
Major: Mathematics and Physics
OQI Institution: University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Faculty Mentor: Mikhael Backlund
Jayden Wool
Home Institution: Northwestern University
Major: Computer Science and Physics
OQI Institution: Argonne National Laboratory
Faculty Mentor: Jeff Larson
Jiani Fu
Home Institution: Harvey Mudd College
Major: Physics
OQI Institution: Northwestern University
Faculty Mentor: Michael Wasielewski
Kaiya Jones
Home Institution: Tuskegee University
Major: Computer Science and Mathematics
OQI Institution: Northwestern University
Faculty Mentor: Kate Smith
Krist Ha
Home Institution: Miami University
Major: Physics and Mathematics
OQI Institution: Argonne National Laboratory
Faculty Mentor: Yi Li
Madeline Dean
Home Institution: Smith College
Major: Physics and Astronomy
OQI Institution: University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Faculty Mentor: Paul Kwiat
Mariano Alcalde
Home Institution: The University of Texas at San Antonio
Major: Physics and Mathematics
OQI Institution: Purdue University
Faculty Mentor: Vladimir Shalaev
Mireya Valentin
Home Institution: East Los Angeles College
Major: Electrical Engineering
OQI Institution: University of Chicago
Faculty Mentor: David Awschalom
Nishna Aerabati
Home Institution: University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Major: Computer Science and Physics
OQI Institution: Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory
Faculty Mentor: Gabriel Perdue
Noble Agyeman-Bobie
Home Institution: Grambling State University
Major: Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science
OQI Institution: Northwestern University
Faculty Mentor: Kate Smith
Rishi Nelakurti
Home Institution: The Ohio State University
Major: Physics
OQI Institution: The Ohio State University
Faculty Mentor: Kevin Singh
Valeria Diaz Moreno
Home Institution: University of Wisconsin–Madison
Major: Physics and Data Science
OQI Institution: Argonne National Laboratory
Faculty Mentor: Jiefei Zhang
Vivien Yan
Home Institution: Grinnell College
Major: Physics
OQI Institution: University of Wisconsin–Madison
Faculty Mentor: Tiancheng Song
Xavier Dabrowiecki
Home Institution: DePaul University
Major: Physics and Mathematics
OQI Institution: Northwestern University
Faculty Mentor: Enectalí Figueroa-Feliciano
Tala Alkabbani
Home Institution: Passaic County Community College
Major: Computer Science
OQI Institution: Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory
Faculty Mentor: Gabriel Perdue
Research Topic: Investigating the implementation and behavior of surface code algorithms, with a focus on applying diverse noise channels and analyzing their effects, to enhance machine learning models for quantum error correction optimization
Pedro Henrique Alves Silva Dos Santos
Home Institution: Colby College
Major: Physics, Mathematics
OQI Institution: University of Wisconsin–Madison
Faculty Mentor: Mark Friesen
Research Topic: Spin qubit transport in Si/SiGe heterostructures
Vatsal Bandaru
Home Institution: University of Connecticut
Major: Engineering Physics
OQI Institution: University of Wisconsin–Madison
Faculty Mentor: Mark Friesen
Research Topic: Novel gate architectures for spin qubit shuttling in Si/SiGe heterostructures
Margaux Basart
Home Institution: Colorado School of Mines
Major: Engineering Physics
OQI Institution: University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Faculty Mentor: Elizabeth Goldschimdt
Research Topic: Designing electrodes towards creating an atomic mirror in a rare-earth ion-doped crystal
Bonde Borca
Home Institution: Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology
Major: Electrical Engineering, Engineering Physics
OQI Institution: Argonne National Laboratory
Faculty Mentor: Joseph Heremans
Research Topic: Utilizing preferential growth of diamond surfaces for nitrogen vacancy center localization and orientation
Otis Buras
Home Institution: Illinois Wesleyan University
Major: Physics, Studio Art
OQI Institution: Northwestern University
Faculty Mentor: Michael Wasielewski
Research Topic: Investigating relaxation dynamics of photogenerated electron spins in single crystals
Praise Daniels
Home Institution: Wilbur Wright College - City Colleges of Chicago
Major: Computer Science
OQI Institution: University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Faculty Mentor: Andre Schleife
Research Topic: Prediction of electronic stopping power by combining time-dependent density functional theory and machine learning
Adriana Frick
Home Institution: Georgia Institute of Technology
Major: Physics
OQI Institution: University of Wisconsin–Madison
Faculty Mentor: Randall Goldsmith
Research Topic: Characterization and optimization of multi wall carbon nanotubes deposition for single particle photothermal microscopy via nanophotonic devices
Josh Gao
Home Institution: Virginia Tech
Major: Computer Science
OQI Institution: Northwestern University
Faculty Mentor: Kaitlin Smith
Research Topic: Error characterization with Pauli check sandwiching
Carissa Kiehl
Home Institution: Carthage College
Major: Physics, Computer Science
OQI Institution: Argonne National Laboratory
Faculty Mentor: Charudatta Phatak
Research Topic: Microwave characterization of magnetic and superconducting devices for quantum information science
Kofi Klutse
Home Institution: Lipscomb University
Major: Professional Chemistry, Biochemistry
OQI Institution: The Ohio State University
Faculty Mentor: Jay Gupta
Research Topic: Exploring techniques and parameters for the intercalation of Erbium atoms in 2D crystal structures for application in spin qubits
Hsien-Wei Lin
Home Institution: University of Maryland College Park
Major: Electrical Engineering
OQI Institution: The Ohio State University
Faculty Mentor: Ron Reano
Research Topic: Implementing the measurement device independent quantum key distribution (MDI-QKD) with the focus of FPGA programming for attenuation purposes
Wanda Lindquist
Home Institution: Illinois Wesleyan University
Major: Physics, Mathematics
OQI Institution: Argonne National Laboratory
Faculty Mentor: Supratik Guha
Research Topic: Development of erbium doped oxides for quantum network applications
Abdulsalam Odofin-Kamorudeen
Home Institution: Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville
Major: Physics
OQI Institution: University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Faculty Mentor: Mikael Backlund
Research Topic: Quantum sensing with nitrogen-vacancy centers in Diamond
Joel Benjamin Ruzindana Manzi
Home Institution: University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff
Major: Physics
OQI Institution: University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Faculty Mentor: Chris Anderson
Research Topic: Simulation and fabrication of an efficient inverse taper edge coupler for maximal quantum information (photon) collection & Setting up a confocal microscope to visualize and localize SiC defects
Clarice Yekeh
Home Institution: Howard University
Major: Computer Engineering
OQI Institution: University of Chicago
Faculty Mentor: David Awschalom
Research Topic: Charge state dynamics of vanadium defects in silicon carbide
Zoe Zuro
Home Institution: University of Illinois Chicago
Major: Engineering Physics
OQI Institution: Argonne National Laboratory
Faculty Mentor: Stephan Hruszkewycz
Research Topic: Mapping NV center photoluminescence in diamonds through optics lab setup and Python coding
Anais El Akkad
Home Institution: Georgia Institute of Technology
Major: Physics
OQI Institution: University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Faculty Mentor: Elizabeth Goldschmidt
Research Topic: Simulating superradiance in a rare-earth crystal
Atlas Bailly
Home Institution: Cornell University
Major: Physics and Mathematics
OQI Institution: Argonne National Laboratory
Faculty Mentor: Paul Kairys
Research Topic: Quantum control and dynamics of nitrogen-vacancy electron spins
Perla Bran
Home Institution: Wilbur Wright College
Major: Chemical Engineer
OQI Institution: University of Chicago
Faculty Mentor: Peter Duda
Research Topic: Coming soon
Erin Diran-Ojo
Home Institution: University of Michigan
Major: Electrical Engineering
OQI Institution: University of Wisconsin–Madison
Faculty Mentor: Jen Choy
Research Topic: Imaging and spectroscopy of color centers in diamond for quantum sensing and communication
Gabriel Gaeta
Home Institution: San Jose State University
Major: Physics
OQI Institution: Argonne National Laboratory
Faculty Mentor: Jiefei Zhang
Research Topic: Optical study of ion-ion interactions of rare-earth ions in oxide hosts for quantum memory applications
Manuel Olisser Gomez
Home Institution: Arizona State University
Major: Electrical Engineering
OQI Institution: Ohio State University
Faculty Mentor: Ronald M. Reano
Research Topic: Chip-scale quantum integrated optics and photonics
Manny Hernandez
Home Institution: University of California Los Angeles
Major: Physics
OQI Institution: Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory
Faculty Mentor: Andy Li
Research Topic: The impact of errors on variational quantum algorithms
Jade Kaminska
Home Institution: Illinois Wesleyan University
Major: Mathematics, Economics
OQI Institution: University of Wisconsin–Madison
Faculty Mentor: Maxim Vavilov
Research Topic: Parametric Energy Transfer Between Microwave Resonators
Santiago Lopez
Home Institution: Purdue University
Major: Physics
OQI Institution: Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory
Faculty Mentor: Gabe Perdue
Research Topic: Running quantum error correction (QEC) algorithms on a low-latency cryogenic electronics module for the readout and control of qubits
Matthew Lu
Home Institution: Vanderbilt University
Major: Physics; Mathematics
OQI Institution: Ohio State University
Faculty Mentor: Roland Kawakami
Research Topic: Optical studies of magnetism in quantum materials including 2D magnets and twisted 2D semiconductors
Kenneth Muhammad
Home Institution: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Major: Electrical Science and Engineering
OQI Institution: University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Faculty Mentor: Paul Kwiat
Research Topic: Integrated optics for time-bin encoding and improved detector performance
Natasha Ninan
Home Institution: University of Akron
Major: Electrical Engineering
OQI Institution: University of Wisconsin–Madison
Faculty Mentor: Mikhail Kats
Research Topic: Electromagnetic simulations, and the design and optimization of optical structures for interfacing with quantum systems
Peter Mugaba Noertoft
Home Institution: Stanford University
Major: Electrical Engineering
OQI Institution: University of Chicago
Faculty Mentor: David Awschalom
Research Topic: Room temperature NV magnetometer for diamond growth characterization
Shlesha Patel
Home Institution: Wilbur Wright College
Major: Mechanical Engineering
OQI Institution: University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Faculty Mentor: Peter Abbamonte
Research Topic: Measure the noise characteristics and quantum efficiency of a charged particle detector
Jonathan Andrade Plascencia
Home Institution: Cornell University
Major: Chemistry, Physics
OQI Institution: Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory
Faculty Mentor: Gabe Perdue
Research Topic: Studying quantum error correction (QEC) algorithms on a low-latency cryogenic electronics module for the readout and control of qubits
Rachelle Rosiles
Home Institution: Illinois Institute of Technology
Major: Physics
OQI Institution: Argonne National Laboratory
Faculty Mentor: Nazar Delegan
Research Topic: Investigation and quantum sensing of diamond surfaces and dark reporter spins using NV- in delta-doped diamond
Selvin Tobar
Home Institution: Wilbur Wright College
Major: Chemical Engineering
OQI Institution: University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Faculty Mentor: Daniel Shoemaker
Research Topic: Synthesis of rare-earth-based quantum information storage materials
Rain Wang
Home Institution: Harvard University
Major: Physics
OQI Institution: Argonne National Laboratory
Faculty Mentor: Joe Heremans
Research Topic: Exploring quantum communication protocols under real-world conditions
Alejandro Aponte
Home Institution: Florida International University
Major: Physics
Industry Internship: QuantCAD
Industry Mentor: Jennifer Flatte
Ariadna Fernandez
Home Institution: University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Major: Computer Science
Industry Internship: MemQ
Industry Mentor: Robert Pettit
Gustavo Aldas
Home Institution: Passaic County Community College
Major: Electrical & Computer Engineering
OQI Institution: University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Faculty Mentor: Mikael Backlund
Research Topic: Nanoscale Magnetic Imaging Using Quantum Defects in Diamond
Alejandro Aponte
Home Institution: Florida International University
Major: Physics
OQI Institution: University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Faculty Mentor: Elizabeth Goldschmidt
Research Topic: Development of an Imaging System to Aid the Creation of an Optical Quantum Memory Based on Rare-earth Atoms in Cryogenically Cooled Solid-state Host
Ekaterina Arutyunova
Home Institution: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Major: Physics & Electrical Engineering
OQI Institution: University of Wisconsin–Madison
Faculty Mentor: Jennifer Choy
Research Topic: Investigating the Impact of Low-Energy Electron Beam Irradiation on Nitrogen-Vacancy Formation in Diamond
Cody Castle
Home Institution: Wilbur Wright College
Major: Computer Engineering
OQI Institution: Argonne National Laboratory
Faculty Mentor: Joseph Heremans
Research Topic: Automation and Development of Diamond Membrane Delamination Process
Eric J’Ryan Daniels
Home Institution: Stanford University
Major: Physics
OQI Institution: The Ohio State University
Faculty Mentor: Jay Gupta
Research Topic: Utilizing surface science techniques in ultrahigh vacuum (UHV) to characterize and control the properties of individual quantum point defects
Ariadna Fernandez
Home Institution: University of Illinois Chicago
Major: Computer Science
OQI Institution: University of Chicago
Faculty Mentor: Laura Gagliardi
Research Topic: Optimizing the Variational Quantum Eigensolver (VQE) for the LAS-UCC Ground State Energy Estimation Algorithm
Kaytlin Faith Harrison
Home Institution: University of Wisconsin–Madison
Major: Physics
OQI Institution: University of Wisconsin–Madison
Faculty Mentor: Baha Balantekin
Research Topic: Pulse-level Quantum Computing of Collective Neutrino Oscillations
Louisa Mary Kaplan
Home Institution: The College of William & Mary
Major: Physics
OQI Institution: The Ohio State University
Faculty Mentor: Ezekiel Johnston-Halperin
Research Topic: Tunneling Current in Hexagonal Boron Nitride Measured by Conductive AFM
Healey Kogan
Home Institution: University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Major: Engineering Physics
OQI Institution: University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Faculty Mentor: Jacob Covey
Research Topic: Fabry-Perot Test Cavity Development and Experimentation
Joseph Oluwole
Home University: Chicago State University
Major: Computer Science
OQI Institution: Fermilab
Faculty Mentor: Gabriel Perdue
Research Topic: Qiskit Pulses and Transmon qubits in Quantum Computing
Adrian Portales
Home Institution: University of Texas Rio Grande Valley
Major: Mechanical Engineering
OQI Institution: Argonne National Laboratory
Faculty Mentor: Supratik Guha
Research Topic: Development of a Methodology for Stacking Dissimilar Crystalline Materials to Make Quantum Devices
Tiarna Marie Wise
Home Institution: Coppin State University
Major: Computer Science
OQI Institution: University of Chicago
Faculty Mentor: David Awschalom
Research Topic: Quantum Instrumentation Control Kit (QICK) for Optically Active Spin Qubits
Funding for the Summer 2024 Open Quantum Initiative is provided by: the University of Chicago, Q-NEXT at Argonne National Laboratory, the Illinois Quantum Information Science and Technology Center at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, HQAN at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, The Ohio State University, Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, and UChicago’s Inclusive Innovation in the Sciences Fund.