Taylor L Hughes

Taylor L. Hughes is a Professor of Physics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, affiliated with the Grainger College of Engineering. He holds the Donald Biggar Willett Faculty Scholar distinction. His research focuses on topological insulators/superconductors, quantum information/entanglement techniques, and mesoscopic transport in low-dimensional materials. He earned his bachelor's from the University of Florida (2003) and PhD from Stanford University (2009), followed by a postdoc at UIUC before joining the faculty in 2011.

Research highlights include predicting quantum spin Hall states in HgTe/CdTe quantum wells, developing entanglement-based methods for topological states, and studying topological visco-elastic responses. Awards include the ONR Young Investigator Award (2015), NSF CAREER Award (2014), and Sloan Fellowship (2013). He teaches courses like PHYS 496 (Communicating in Physics) and has been recognized as an excellent teacher multiple times.

Key contributions include higher-order topological insulators, electric multipole insulators, and topological defect studies. His work bridges condensed matter physics with high-energy concepts like gravitational anomalies and holography. Current research explores disordered topological systems, fractional charges at defects, and topological photonics.