In this week’s edition, we have hardware specialists from Quantum Motion Technologies, QauntWare, QuiX, Rigetti Computing, and Riverlane. Not far from the century now, the end is in sight.
Here are entries 71–84.
*All data correct as of late September 2021
71. Stanley Toncich: Senior RF Engineer, Quantum Circuits
A Senior RF Engineer at Quantum Circuits, Stanley Toncich received his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering and Applied Physics, with an emphasis on electromagnetics, at the Case Institute of Technology, in Cleveland, Ohio.
After graduation he worked as an NRC post-doc at the NASA Lewis (now Glenn) Research Center, doing research in high-temperature superconductivity applications in microwave components. Toncich left Cleveland for San Diego to work at Qualcomm, Inc. for 19 years, first on Globalstar, then in corporate R&D, with a focus on tunable filter designs for wireless products. He then worked at Cubic Inc. for a few years before joining QCI.
72. Alberto Gómez Saiz: Lead IC Design Engineer, Quantum Motion Technologies
Alberto Gómez Saiz is a Lead IC Design Engineer at Quantum Motion Technologies, a London-based quantum startup developing quantum computing hardware based on silicon technology. Here, he supports building a scalable array of qubits fabricated on silicon in a CMOS compatible process.
Gómez Saiz has nearly a decade’s worth of experience as an RF and Analog IC design engineer.
With an MSc in Analogue and Digital IC Design from Imperial College London, he is also currently pursuing an MSc in Quantum Technologies from the same university.
73. Fernando González Zalba: Quantum Engineer, Quantum Motion Technologies
Fernando González Zalba heads the Quantum Hardware team at Quantum Motion Technologies. González Zalba is also an Associate Lecturer at the University of Cambridge, a Research Associate at University College London, and Quondam Fellow at Hughes Hall, a Cambridge College.
González Zalba’s research focuses on a variety of topics going from single-atom electronics, quantum sensing, quantum-limited amplification, cryogenic electronics, and new computing paradigms such as quantum computing.
Prior to that González Zalba obtained a Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge with a thesis on Single-atom Electronics and was Head of Quantum Computing at the Hitachi Cambridge Laboratory, an R&D centre of Hitachi Europe.
In 2016, he received the R&D Technology Award from Hitachi’s Centre for Social Innovation for the development of silicon-based quantum computing technology. He was awarded the Young Scientist Award by the Spanish Royal Society of Physics in 2017, and in 2019 became a Royal Society Industry Fellow and received Hitachi’s Centre for Exploratory Research award for substantial developments in quantum sensing.
His research has been funded by the European Commission’s FP7 and H2020 programmes, Innovate UK, EPSRC, the Winton Programme for the Physics of Sustainability and the Royal Society totalling more than £4.5 million. He has published more than 40 peer-reviewed articles, has five granted patents and often participates in outreach scientific events for all ages on quantum computing and artificial intelligence.
74. Michael Fogarty: Senior Quantum Engineer, Quantum Motion Technologies
Currently working as a Senior Research Associate with the London Centre for Nanotechnology and Senior Quantum Engineer within the hardware team at Quantum Motion, Fogarty’s research focus is on the advancement of silicon quantum technologies with projects ranging from the development of single qubits to error-corrected architectures for universal, fault-tolerant quantum computation.
Fogarty obtained a Ph.D. from the University of New South Wales with a thesis on silicon-based quantum computing; he received the Malcolm Chaikin Prize for research excellence in engineering.
75. Alessandro Bruno: Founder and Director of Engineering, QuantWare
Alessandro Bruno is not only the Director of Engineering at QuantWare, but is also the Founder of a company that develops, designs, and fabricates superconducting quantum processors and related hardware. His mission, then, is to accelerate the advent of quantum computing by making quantum hardware accessible to all.
Prior to this, Bruno was a post-doc and Quantum Engineer at QuTech for over eight years.
Bruno received a Ph.D. in Engineering Physics/Applied Physics from CNR — Consiglio Nazionale Delle Ricerche, specializing in nanotechnologies and quantum bit material science to increase the coherence times in superconducting phase qubits.
76. Henk Snijders: Quantum System Engineer, Quix
Henk Snijders is a Quantum System Engineer at Quix, a Dutch startup offering a plug-and-play integrated and reconfigurable light-based quantum processor.
As a quantum optics researcher, Snijders is capable of performing (quantum) optical experiments with simulations or theoretical calculations.
Snijders has a Ph.D. in Quantum Optics from Leiden University, the Netherlands. During his research in the groups of Wolfgang Löffler and Dirk Bouwmeester, he worked with single photons, quantum dots and micro cavities to perform fundamental research on future quantum technologies.
77. Michiel de Goede: Quantum System Engineer, QuiX
A researcher and engineer with over five years of experience in photonics and integrated optics, Michiel de Goede is a Quantum System Engineer at QuiX.
Specialized in photonic integrated circuit design, clean-room technologies, lasers, biosensing, and optical simulations, he is interested in novel technologies that can make a positive impact on society.
De Goede obtained his Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Twente, the Netherlands.
78. Andrew Bestwick: Quantum Architecture, Rigetti Computing
The first of several hardware specialists working tirelessly for Berkeley, California-based superconducting quantum computing company Rigetti Computing, Andrew Bestwick’s role is in Quantum Architecture.
An early hire during the company’s seed phase, Bestwick has played a key role in scaling a company of ten people with no qubits to a team of 100+ people building 100+ qubit systems.
Other achievements to date are founding and leading the chip design and fabrication groups, managing dozens of engineers, being responsible for the quantum processor roadmap, integrating development projects in coherence, crosstalk, 3D integration, microwave signal integrity, Hamiltonian design, managing the development of software tools to facilitate QPU design-fab-test learning cycles, overseeing the construction, facilization and operation of superconducting device foundry while representing the company in fundraising, customer events, media relations, and technical seminars.
Bestwick received a Ph.D. in Physics from Stanford University with research in the Goldhaber-Gordon Group studying electron transport in topological insulators, including superconductivity, the quantum anomalous Hall effect, and the quantum spin Hall effect.
79. Yuvraj Mohan: Senior Quantum Engineer, Rigetti Computing
A Senior Quantum Engineer at Rigetti Computing since earlier this year, Yuvraj Mohan started off his career at Rigetti as a Junior Quantum Engineer some five years prior, where he worked on process development for fabrication of quantum integrated circuits.
Mohan obtained a Master of Science in Engineering (MSE) in Nanotechnology from the University of Pennsylvania with the thesis: Study on Implantation, Annealing, and Formation of Defect Centers in Diamond.
80. Ganesh K Ramachandran: Vice President of Engineering, Rigetti Computing
Vice President Of Engineering at Rigetti Computing, Ganesh K Ramachandran has a strong background in semiconductor process, manufacturing and hardware engineering.
Before Rigetti, Ramachandran was a Research Scientist at NIST in the Semiconductor Electronics Division and a Technologist at Intel.
He has a Ph.D. in Materials Science from Arizona State University.
81. Mark Field: Principal Engineer, Rigetti Computing
Mark Field is a Principal Engineer at Rigetti Computing. An Applied Physicist, Electronic/Optical Engineer and Materials Scientist by training with an extensive, broad-ranging research and development portfolio and project management experience, Field has two decades of work in physics, chemistry and the materials science arena in semiconductors, electronics, optics, microwaves, materials, and devices.
Field obtained his Ph.D. in Semiconductor Physics from the University of Cambridge studying single electron sensing in electronic circuits.
82. Burcu Ercan: Process Engineer, Rigetti Computing
With several years of experience in the design, fabrication and characterization of GaN-based devices, Burcu Ercan is a Process Engineer at Rigetti Computing.
Before Rigetti, Burcu spent time as an Intern at the Nokia Bell Labs. She has a Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of California, Davis.
83. Alysson Gold: Manager, Quantum Engineering, Rigetti Computing
Currently a Manager of Quantum Engineering leading a quantum engineering team focused on novel scaling technology and next-generation quantum processors at Rigetti Computing, Alysson Gold is an engineering physicist with a strong background in applied mathematics and electromagnetism who started off at the company as a Quantum Engineer working on the computational modelling of superconducting qubits.
Gold is keen on multi-physics modelling, from the underlying mathematical formulation to high-performance computational implementation, and has a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University.
83. Ben Rogers: Quantum Engineer, Riverlane
Ben Rogers is a Quantum Engineer at Riverlane, a Cambridge, UK-based quantum software startup.
Rogers completed a Ph.D. in Quantum Information Theory from Queen’s University Belfast and conducted postdoctoral research at the University of Vienna.
During his Ph.D., Rogers explored the optimal control of entanglement dynamics, entanglement characteristics close to quantum phase transitions, and non-demolition measurement and manipulation of atoms trapped in optical lattices.
84. Marco Ghibaudi (He/Him): VP of Engineering, Riverlane
A VP of Engineering at Riverlane, Marco Ghibaudi is an FPGA expert with a Ph.D. in Innovative Technologies from CERN/ScuolaSuperiore Sant’Anna Pisa.
As part of his Ph.D., he contributed to the design of the CERN ATLAS experiment back-end electronics and to the development of prototypes used in automotive, IoT and fibre-optic communications.
Part Seven coming soon!
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