Quantum and Queries Live! at the Cactus

Description

About the Speakers

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  Scott Aaronson

  Professor

  Department of Computer Science, UT Austin

  Scott Aaronson is the David J. Bruton Jr. Centennial Professor of Computer Science at The University of Texas at Austin, where he is director of its Quantum Information Center and ...

  Scott Aaronson is the David J. Bruton Jr. Centennial Professor of Computer Science at The University of Texas at Austin, where he is director of its Quantum Information Center and part of the Texas Quantum Institute. Aaronson’s research focuses on the capabilities and limits of quantum computers and more generally on computational complexity and its relationship to physics. Previously, he was on the faculty at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He studied at Cornell and University of California, Berkeley, and did postdoctoral work at the Institute for Advanced Study as well as the University of Waterloo. His first book, Quantum Computing Since Democritus, was published in 2013 by Cambridge University Press. Aaronson has written about quantum computing for Scientific American and The New York Times, and writes a popular blog. He’s received the National Science Foundation’s Alan T. Waterman Award, the ACM Prize in Computing, a United States PECASE Award and MIT’s Junior Bose Award for Excellence in Teaching.

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  Keith Hawkins

  Associate Professor

  Department of Astronomy, UT Austin

  Keith Hawkins is primarily interested in a field called galactic archaeology, which is aimed at exploring the Milky Way Galaxy and its formation, evolution and structure. He uses stellar spectroscopy ...

  Keith Hawkins is primarily interested in a field called galactic archaeology, which is aimed at exploring the Milky Way Galaxy and its formation, evolution and structure. He uses stellar spectroscopy as his primary astrophysical tool. He belongs to the Wootten Center for Astrophysical Plasma Properties at UT Austin. Before coming to UT, he completed a postdoctoral fellowship as a Simons Junior Research Fellow at Columbia University and received his Ph.D.  at the Institute of Astronomy in Cambridge, under a Marshall Scholarship and King’s College Cambridge Studentship. Hawkins received his B.S. in astrophysics with minors in mathematics and African Studies from Ohio University. 

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  Brian Malow

  Science Comedian

  Brian Malow (B.A. '85) is a stand-up comedian and science communicator whose unique blend of comedy and science has been entertaining audiences from TEDx Berkeley to Los Alamos National Lab ...

  Brian Malow (B.A. '85) is a stand-up comedian and science communicator whose unique blend of comedy and science has been entertaining audiences from TEDx Berkeley to Los Alamos National Lab to the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings. Malow has appeared on Science Friday, Neil Tyson’s StarTalk Radio, the Science Channel, the Weather Channel and the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson. You can see him currently streaming in the documentary “Science Friction” and on “The Unbelievable,” hosted by Dan Aykroyd on the History Channel. Malow has produced science videos for Time Magazine and Slate and written for Scientific American, American Scientist and Symmetry Magazine. He has worked with NASA, NSF, AAAS, NIST and many other acronyms, as well as Lawrence Berkeley Lab, Johns Hopkins Medicine, Apple, Google and Microsoft. He’s been featured in the New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle and Washington Post. The California Academy of Sciences named Malow one of their inaugural Osher Science Communication Fellows. 

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  Deirdre Shoemaker

  Professor

  Department of Physics, UT Austin

  Deirdre Shoemaker is a professor of physics and director of the Center for Gravitational Physics in the Weinberg Institute at The University of Texas at Austin. She received her B.S. ...

  Deirdre Shoemaker is a professor of physics and director of the Center for Gravitational Physics in the Weinberg Institute at The University of Texas at Austin. She received her B.S. in physics, astronomy and astrophysics from the Pennsylvania State University and her Ph.D. in physics from The University of Texas at Austin. She was a postdoctoral fellow at Penn State and Cornell University before joining the faculty at Penn State in 2004. She moved to the School of Physics at Georgia Tech in 2008 and to UT in 2020. She has won the NSF Career award, was part of the Breakthrough Prize given to the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) Scientific Collaboration. She has served on the Astronomy and Astrophysics Advisory Council, is a fellow of the American Physical Society, and has held several elected roles in APS Divisional of Gravitational Physics. She was instrumental in the formation of the newly rebooted Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) Consortium. Her current favorite activity is being a member of the LISA science team. 

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  The Dean’s List

  Austin-Based Band
  
  UT Austin 

  The Dean’s List is a popular Austin-based band featuring five top administrative leaders from UT Austin: Bobby Chesney (School of Law Dean; lead guitar), Charles R. Martinez (College of Education ...

  The Dean’s List is a popular Austin-based band featuring five top administrative leaders from UT Austin: Bobby Chesney (School of Law Dean; lead guitar), Charles R. Martinez (College of Education Dean; vocals and rhythm guitar), Allan Cole (Steve Hicks School of Social Work Dean; bass), Richard Reddick (Senior Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education; keyboard & additional rhythm sections) and Samuel Poloyac (College of Pharmacy Dean; drums). Known for energetic live shows, they keep audiences engaged with covers and their unique blend of styles, ranging from rock, funk, blues and country to blending originals with popular hits. 

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