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Spotlight on new faculty: Angela Kou, Condensed Matter

3/13/2020 Jessica Raley for Illinois Physics

Angela Kou is a new faculty member joining Illinois Physics and the Illinois Quantum Information Science and Technology Center (IQUIST) in August 2020.

Written by Jessica Raley for Illinois Physics

Professor Angela Kou discusses device simulations with graduate student Lukas Splitthoff.

Professor Angela Kou

Angela Kou is a new faculty member joining Illinois Physics and the Illinois Quantum Information Science and Technology Center (IQUIST) in August 2020. Her work is at the interface between condensed matter physics and quantum information science, with a focus on topological materials. Angela works with these unique materials “both from the bottom up and from the top down.” That is, she is interested in “building new topological materials by coupling superconducting qubits to each other,” as well as in examining the characteristics of materials that have been theorized to have topological properties. Her work has implications for the future of quantum information, because she is discovering ways to create more robust qubits by limiting the impact of local noise, thus reducing information loss. Angela also plans to build a scanning tool to investigate the modes at the edges of topological materials, which will provide new insights about the nature of the materials themselves. Because her research relies on interdisciplinary collaborations with both theorists and experimentalists, the University of Illinois is the ideal home for Angela’s research program.

Angela will be seeking graduate and undergraduate researchers for Fall 2020. If you are interested in working in her lab, please contact her directly at akou@illinois.edu.

Madeline Stover is a physics doctoral student at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign studying atmospheric dynamics applied to forest conservation. She interns as a science writer for Illinois Physics, where she also co-hosts the podcast Emergence along with fellow physics graduate student Mari Cieszynski. When Stover is not doing research or communications, she enjoys hosting her local radio show, singing with her band, and cooking with friends.

Daniel Inafuku graduated from Illinois Physics with a PhD and now works as a science writer. At Illinois, he conducted scientific research in mathematical biology and mathematical physics. In addition to his research interests, Daniel is a science video media creator.

Karmela Padavic-Callaghan, Ph. D. is a science writer and an educator. She teaches college and high school physics and mathematics courses, and her writing has been published in popular science outlets such as WIRED, Scientific American, Physics World, and New Scientist. She earned a Ph. D. in Physics from UIUC in 2019 and currently lives in Brooklyn, NY.

Jamie Hendrickson is a writer and content creator in higher education communications. They earned their M.A. in Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 2021. In addition to their communications work, they are a published area studies scholar and Russian-to-English translator.

Garrett R. Williams is an Illinois Physics Ph.D. Candidate and science writer. He has been recognized as the winner of the 2020 APS History of Physics Essay Competition and as a finalist in the 2021 AAAS Science and Human Rights Essay Competition. He was also an invited author in the 2021 #BlackinPhysics Week series published by Physics Today and Physics World. 

 

Karmela Padavic-Callaghan, Ph. D. is a science writer and an educator. She teaches college and high school physics and mathematics courses, and her writing has been published in popular science outlets such as WIRED, Scientific American, Physics World, and New Scientist. She earned a Ph. D. in Physics from UIUC in 2019 and currently lives in Brooklyn, NY.

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This story was published March 13, 2020.