CV#

Research interests#

Computational quantum physics, quantum computing, optomechanical systems, superconducting circuit devices, analogue gravitational physics, quantum optics, and scientific visualization.

Education#

2005-2010 - Ph.D. Physics, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire USA.

  • Dissertation Topic: “Quantum Dynamics of Nonlinear Cavity Systems”

  • Advisor: Miles P. Blencowe

2002-2005 - B.S. Physics, Utah State University, Logan, Utah USA.

  • Minor: Mathematics

Experience#

  • 2021-Present - Principal Research Scientist, IBM Quantum, Yorktown Heights USA.

  • 2021-2023 - Director of Partner Technical Enablement, IBM Quantum, Yorktown Heights USA.

  • 2018-Present - Research Staff Member, IBM Quantum, Yorktown Heights USA.

  • 2015-2017 - Staff Physicist IV, Northrop Grumman Corporation, Aurora, Colorado USA.

  • 2012-2015 - Assistant Professor, Korea University Department of Physics, Seoul, South Korea.

  • 2011-2012 - JSPS Foreign Postdoctoral Fellow, RIKEN Advanced Science Institute, Wako-shi, Saitama Japan.

  • 2010-2012 - Postdoctoral Research Associate, University of Michigan, Ann-Arbor, Michigan USA.

  • 2010-2011 - Visiting Researcher, RIKEN Advanced Science Institute, Wako-shi, Saitama Japan

  • 2005-2010 - Graduate Student, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire USA.

  • 2009 - Visiting Researcher, NTT Basic Research Laboratories, Atsugi, Kanagawa Japan.

  • 2004-2005 - Science Specialist, Dugway Proving Grounds, U.S. Army, Dugway, Utah USA.

Honors and Awards#

  • 2024 - Outstanding Technical Achievement Award, “Development of Qiskit Runtime Primitives to optimize quantum algorithm workflows”, IBM.

  • 2023 - Outstanding Technical Achievement Award, “Mapomatic”, IBM.

  • 2022 - Outstanding Technical Achievement Award, “Matrix-free Measurement Mitigation (M3)”, IBM.

  • 2021 - Outstanding Technical Achievement Award, “IBM Quantum Cloud applications and services (Experience / Lab and API)”, IBM.

  • 2021 - Outstanding Technical Achievement Award, “Define Quantum Volume as a metric”, IBM.

  • 2020 - Outstanding Research Accomplishment, “IBM Quantum Cloud Applications and Services”, IBM.

  • 2020 - Outstanding Research Accomplishment, “Quantum Education with Qiskit”, IBM.

  • 2019 - Outstanding Technical Achievement Award, “Qiskit and IBM Q Experience Ecosystem”, IBM.

  • 2019 - Corporate Technical Award, “IBM Q 20-qubit system development and deployment”, IBM.

  • 2014 - Outstanding Teaching Award, (Computational Physics), Korea University.

  • 2012 - Outstanding Teaching Award, (Introductory Physics), Korea University.

  • 2011-2012 - JSPS Foreign Postdoctoral Fellowship, Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science.

  • 2009-2010 - Graduate Assistance in Areas of National Need (GAANN) Fellowship, U.S. Department of Education.

  • 2009 - East Asia and Pacific Summer Institutes Fellowship, NSF / JSPS.

  • 2005-2006 - GAANN Fellowship, U.S. Department of Education.

  • 2005 - Best undergraduate science poster presentation, Utah State University.

Publications#

You can also check out my Google Scholar page.

Benchmarking the performance of quantum computing software for quantum circuit creation, manipulation and compilation

  • Paul D. Nation, Abdullah Ash Saki, Sebastian Brandhofer, Luciano Bello, Shelly Garion, Matthew Treinish, and Ali Javadi-Abhari

  • Nat. Comput. Sci. (2025)

QuTiP 5: The Quantum Toolbox in Python

  • Neill Lambert, Eric Giguère, Paul Menczel, Boxi Li, Patrick Hopf, Gerardo Suárez, Marc Gali, Jake Lishman, Rushiraj Gadhvi, Rochisha Agarwal, Asier Galicia, Nathan Shammah, Paul Nation, J. R. Johansson, Shahnawaz Ahmed, Simon Cross, Alexander Pitchford, and Franco Nori

  • arXiv:2412.04705

Quantum computing with Qiskit

  • Ali Javadi-Abhari, Matthew Treinish, Kevin Krsulich, Christopher J. Wood, Jake Lishman, Julien Gacon,

Simon Martiel, Paul D. Nation, Lev S. Bishop, Andrew W. Cross, Blake R. Johnson, and Jay M. Gambetta - arXiv:2405.08810

A Quantum-Classical Method Applied to Material Design: Photochromic Materials Optimization for Photopharmacology Applications
Toward Quantum-Centric Supercomputing: Building a Quantum Ecosystem Via International Collaboration
Suppressing Quantum Circuit Errors Due to System Variability
Defining Standard Strategies for Quantum Benchmarks

  • Mirko Amico, Helena Zhang, Petar Jurcevic, Lev S. Bishop, Paul Nation, Andrew Wack, and David C. McKay

  • arXiv:2303.02108

Characterizing quantum processors using discrete time crystals
Scalable Mitigation of Measurement Errors on Quantum Computers
Challenges and Opportunities of Near-Term Quantum Computing Systems

  • Antonio D. Córcoles, Abihinav Kandala, Ali Javadi-Abhari, Douglas T. McClure, Andrew W. Cross, Kristan Temme, Paul D. Nation, Matthais Steffen, and Jay M. Gambetta

  • Proc. of IEEE 108, 1338 (2020)

Validating quantum computers using randomized model circuits
Ultrastrong optomechanics incorporating the dynamical Casimir effect
Steady-state solution methods for open quantum optical systems
Iterative solutions to the steady-state density matrix for optomechanical systems
A cavity-Cooper pair transistor scheme for investigating quantum optomechanics in the ultra-strong coupling regime
Nonclassical mechanical states in an optomechanical micromaser analog
QuTiP 2: A Python framework for the dynamics of open quantum systems
Non-equilibrium Landauer Transport Model for Hawking Radiation from a Black Hole
QuTiP: An open-source Python framework for the dynamics of open quantum systems
Stimulating uncertainty: Amplifying the quantum vacuum with superconducting circuits
The trilinear Hamiltonian: a zero dimensional model of Hawking radiation from a quantized source
Analogue Hawking Radiation in a dc-SQUID Array Transmission Line
Quantum analysis of a nonlinear microwave- cavity embedded dc-SQUID displacement detector
Modeling biological fluorescence emission spectra using Lorentz line shapes and nonlinear optimization

Patents#

Local Optimization of Quantum Circuits
Visualizing arbitrary pulse shapes and schedules in quantum computing applications

  • P. D. Nation, Naoki Kanazawa, and Thomas Arab Alexander

  • US10790912B2 (2020).

Validating and estimating runtime for quantum algorithms

  • Ali Javadi, Ismael Faro, Jay M. Gambetta, and P. D. Nation

  • US20200285986A1 (2019).

Scalable error mitigation

  • P. D. Nation, Hwajung Kang, and Jay Gambetta

  • Filled May 07, 2021.

Quantum circuit optimization routine evaluation and knowledge base generation

  • P. D. Nation, Ali Javadi, Paco Martin, Ismael Faro, and Jay Gambetta

  • Filled December 15, 2020.

Optimizing Time-Dependent Simulations of Quantum Computing Architectures

  • Naoki Kanazawa, and P. D. Nation

  • Filled July 16, 2019.

Quantum adaptive compiler service

  • Jay M. Gambetta, Ismael Faro, Ali Javadi, Paco Martin, and P. D. Nation

  • Filled July 11, 2019.

Quantum Pulse Machine Learning auto-optimizer

  • Paco Martin, Ismael Faro, Jay M. Gambetta, and P. D. Nation

  • Filled July 01, 2019.

A System and Method for Constructing Numerical Models for Time-Dependent Hamiltonians and Noise Characteristics of Quantum Computing Devices

  • Naoki Kanazawa, P. D. Nation, and Thomas Alexander

  • Filled June 10, 2019.

Computational Programs#

2021-Present - M3
2018-Present - Qiskit

  • Open-source framework for leveraging noisy quantum computers in research, education, and business. Focus on user-facing functionality, visualizations, and performant numerical methods.

  • https://www.ibm.com/quantum/qiskit

2010-2017 - QuTiP: Quantum Toolbox in Python

  • Open-source framework for solving the dynamics of open quantum systems. Includes Monte-Carlo and master equation algorithms, supporting arbitrary time-dependent Hamiltonians and Louvillians. Supports multiprocessing and Cython based just-in-time (JIT) programming for compiled execution of time-dependent Hamiltonians. In collaboration with Dr. Robert J. Johansson.

  • QuTiP.org

2014-2015 - SciPy

  • Author of Reverse Cuthill-McKee, Maximum Bipartite Matching, and Structural Rank sparse matrix algorithms in the scipy.sparse.csgraph module.

  • scipy.org

Conferences#

  • 2014 - co-Chair, Relativistic Quantum Information North, Seoul, South Korea

Invited conferences / workshops#

  • November 2019 - Progress Toward Quantum Advantage at IBM, IEEE, Westminster CO, USA.

  • June 2019 - Quantum Computing at IBM, Federated Computing Research Conference, Phoenix AZ USA.

  • April 2019 - Compiling Quantum Circuits for NISQ Processors, Korea Institute for Advanced Study, Seoul Korea.

  • June 2018 - Quantum Compunting @ IBM, International Super Computing (ISC) 2018, Frankfurt Germany.

  • July 2014 - Quantum Vacuum Amplification, ”Open KIAS” School on Quantum Information Science, Seoul Korea.

  • June 2014 - Circuit Quantum Electrodynamics: Quantum Optics on a Chip, 3rd School of Mesoscopic Physics, Buyeo Korea.

  • August 2013 - Nonclassical Mechanical States in an Optomechanical Micromaser Analogue, Nonlinear Dynamics at the Nanoscale, Pohang Korea.

  • November 2012 - The Superconducting Circuit Warm Up for Fundamental Physics, 25th Workshop on Nanoscale and Mesoscopic Systems, Pohang Korea.

  • February 2012 - Photon Production from the Quantum Vacuum, 6th Winter School on Quantum Information Science, Huisun Taiwan.

  • September 2010 - Hawking Radiation as a 1D Quantum Channel, Quantum Science of Strongly Correlated Systems (QS2C) Theory Forum, RIKEN, Wako-shi Japan.

Teaching Experience#

2012-2015 - Lecturer, Department of Physics, Korea University

  • 2014-2015: PHYS-461: Computational Physics

  • 2013-2014: PHYS-506: Graduate Quantum Mechanics II

  • 2013-2015: PHYS-505: Graduate Quantum Mechanics

  • 2013: PHYS-721: Special Topics in Solid State Physics

  • 2013: PHYS-183: Physics for Life Scientists

  • 2012-2014: PHYS-152: Introductory Physics II