10/4/2024 Siv Schwink for Illinois Physics
“For pioneering work in the theory of topological insulators and superconductors, higher topology in quantum materials, and the role of geometry in topological quantum matter.”
Written by Siv Schwink for Illinois Physics
Illinois Physics Professor Taylor Hughes has been elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society (APS) “for pioneering work in the theory of topological insulators and superconductors, higher topology in quantum materials, and the role of geometry in topological quantum matter.”
The APS Fellowship Program recognizes members who have made significant contributions to physics and is one of the highest levels of professional recognition that the APS can bestow.
Hughes is a condensed matter theorist who has made pioneering contributions to our understanding of the fundamental properties and behaviors of exotic quantum phases of matter. In his research, Hughes takes a cross-disciplinary collaborative approach, working closely with experimentalists and theorists in other subdisciplines of physics and engineering. His groundbreaking research has implications for the development of new technologies related to electronic materials and engineered meta-materials.
More specifically, Hughes’ research program addresses unanswered questions at the intersection of condensed matter physics, high-energy physics and quantum information science. His primary focus is on topological phases of matter and the interactions between topology and geometry in quantum materials. Hughes has also made impactful contributions to our fundamental understanding of superconductivity, electronic transport, topological order, the quantum Hall effect, disordered electronic systems, many-body quantum entanglement, and theoretical high-energy physics.
At the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Hughes is a member of The Anthony J. Leggett Institute for Condensed Matter Theory (AJL-ICMT); of the US Department of Energy’s Quantum Materials at the Nanoscale research effort and of the Illinois Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (I-MRSEC), both headquartered at the Frederick Seitz Materials Research Laboratory (MRL); and of the Illinois Quantum Information Science and Technology Center (IQUIST) of The Grainger College of Engineering.
Hughes is a recipient of numerous honors. Among these, he was named a 2020 Donald Biggar Willett Scholar by The Grainger College of Engineering at Illinois. He received a 2015 Young Investigator Award from the Office of Naval Research, a 2014 CAREER Award from the National Science Foundation, the 2014 Dean’s Award for Excellence in Research from Grainger Engineering, and a 2013 Sloan Research Fellowship from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.
Hughes is co-author with B. Andrei Bernevig of Topological Insulators and Topological Superconductors, a graduate-level text published by Princeton University Press and the first comprehensive introduction to the subject.
Hughes received his bachelor’s degrees in physics and mathematics from the University of Florida in 2003, graduating summa cum laude. He then worked for a year as a software engineer for the Department of Defense. He went on to receive his doctoral degree from Stanford University in 2009, working under Shou-Cheng Zhang. Hughes completed a postdoctoral appointment at Illinois Physics and the ICMT (2009-2011), working under Professor Eduardo Fradkin. He joined the faculty at Illinois Physics in 2011.