Santa Fe Institute

Bio

Ruben Andrist is surveying the future landscape of quantum computing. A researcher and a programmer, he investigates the stability of various quantum codes by determining how well they can retain information in the presence of external noise. His current research lies at the interface between quantum information theory and statistical mechanics.

The hard optimization problems he studies in statistical physics find wide applicability to a plethora of problems across disciplines far and near. Therefore, gaining a deeper understanding of their physical properties and intriguing dynamics promises fruitful synergies with complex problems found in computer science, biology, economy, as well as sociology. The aim of his research is to employ the analytical methods, numerical approaches and physical insights from his study of statistical-mechanical systems with disorder in multidisciplinary applications. In particular, to investigate the structure, robustness and interactions of networks found in graph theory and machine learning.

Ruben holds a MS in theoretical physics and a PhD in computational physics with a focus on statistical mechanics and quantum information processing from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zurich). He is recipient of the 2012 ETH Medal for outstanding doctoral work.