Twelve early-career quantum researchers have been awarded the 2026 Boeing Quantum Creators Prize for work that moves the field of quantum information science and engineering in new directions. The program, which began in 2021 and expanded in 2023 thanks to a commitment from Boeing, is designed to recognize promising researchers whose work contributes new ideas to a fast-growing field that has the potential to revolutionize technology and society.
The 63 Boeing Quantum Creators who were honored in 2025, 2024, 2023, 2022, and 2021 have gone on to fellowships, research scientist roles at companies such as IBM and Google Quantum AI, and faculty positions at a variety of schools, including the University of California, Berkeley; Yale University; Stanford University; New York University; the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC); and Williams College. Six prior winners shared how the prize has advanced their work.
The 2026 winners will receive a trophy, and a $3,500 monetary prize, as well as the opportunity to present their work at this year’s Q2B26 x Chicago Quantum Summit — hosted by QC Ware and the Chicago Quantum Exchange — on December 8–10.
2026 Boeing Quantum Creators Prize Winners
- Chenxi Huang is a postdoctoral researcher at RIKEN, working with Dr. Sylvain de Leseleuc. She is broadly interested in quantum many-body physics, quantum simulation, and quantum metrology using programmable neutral-atom arrays. Her work focuses on exploring correlated quantum dynamics and developing advanced techniques for controlling atomic systems. She earned her PhD from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign under the supervision of Professor Bryce Gadway.
- Begüm Kabagöz is a postdoctoral associate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology LIGO Laboratory, advised by Nergis Mavalvala. Her research uses LIGO as a platform for quantum science, investigating how quantum states interact with complex optical systems. Her broader interests include quantum measurement engineering, information processing, and secure, scalable quantum networks. She received her PhD in Electrical Engineering from Boston University, where she worked on ultrafast nonlinear optics in multimode fibers.
- Catie LeDesma is a postdoctoral researcher at JILA, University of Colorado Boulder, working with Professor Murray Holland. She is broadly interested in quantum sensing with Bose-Einstein condensates, atom interferometry, and ultracold atomic physics. Her research focuses on developing programmable atom interferometers using optical lattices for precision inertial sensing. She earned her PhD in Physics from the University of Colorado Boulder in 2024.
- Yu-Kun Lu is a postdoctoral fellow in Mikhail Lukin’s group at Harvard University, working on photonic interfaces for neutral-atom quantum processors. He received his PhD in physics from MIT in 2025 under the supervision of Wolfgang Ketterle. His PhD research explores light–matter interactions with ultracold atoms, including how quantum statistics and spatial correlations influence light scattering and how dipolar atoms can be manipulated at subwavelength scales.
- Ryan Murphy is an Arnold O. Beckman postdoctoral fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, working in the group of Professor Danna Freedman. Ryan’s research interests in spin dynamics range from strongly correlated electronic systems to color centers. Murphy earned a PhD from UC Berkeley in 2024, advised by Professor Jeffrey Long.
- Quynh Nguyen is a Simons quantum postdoctoral fellow at the University of California, Berkeley, hosted by Umesh Vazirani. He is interested in all aspects of quantum computing. His recent work aims to improve the efficiency of quantum error correction and identify new quantum algorithms. He earned his PhD at Harvard University.
- Jef Pauwels is a postdoctoral researcher in quantum information theory at the University of Geneva, Switzerland. He obtained his PhD from the Université libre de Bruxelles in 2023. His research focuses on the foundations of quantum information, particularly quantum nonlocality, entanglement, and the structure of quantum measurements, with applications to device-independent certification and quantum communication. He was recently awarded an Ambizione grant from the Swiss National Science Foundation to pursue independent research on verifiable quantum networks.
- Rahul Sahay is currently a graduate student at Harvard University, advised by Professor Ashvin Vishwanath. His research focuses on building a systematic understanding of how to realize and manipulate emergent quantum phenomena (e.g., phases of matter and error correcting codes) given experimental resources and constraints. This aims not only to aid near- and long-term efforts in quantum computation but also to build towards a broader, "resource-theoretic" understanding of emergence.
- Vincent Steffan is a senior quantum error correction engineer at IQM Germany. He earned his Ph.D. at Copenhagen University with Matthias Christandl. At IQM, he works on hardware-aware qLDPC code constructions, particularly Tile Codes.
- Ryan White is a graduate student in the University of Chicago, working with Hannes Bernien at the University of Innsbruck. His research uses dual-species arrays of rubidium and cesium atoms to investigate quantum information processing techniques, including mid-circuit measurement, interspecies entangling gates, and globally-controlled "automaton" protocols.
- Xuntao Wu is a PhD student at the University of Chicago, advised by Professor Andrew Cleland. During his PhD, he has been working on building modular superconducting quantum architectures that support flexible connectivity and efficient quantum operations.
- Jiachen Yu is a PCCM postdoctoral fellow at Princeton University, advised by Professor Ali Yazdani. His research interests broadly encompass quantum microscopy techniques and their applications to two-dimensional quantum materials and devices. He received his Ph.D. from Stanford University in 2023, advised by Professor Ben Feldman.
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