Hanmeng Zhan

Hanmeng Zhan is an Assistant Professor in the Computer Science Department at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI), where he conducts research at the intersection of algebraic graph theory, quantum information, and quantum computation. His work focuses on discrete and continuous quantum walks, graph spectra, association schemes, and their applications to quantum algorithms and communication.

• Ph.D. in Combinatorics and Optimization, University of Waterloo (Supervisor: Chris Godsil)
• Postdoctoral Fellow, Simon Fraser University (with Bojan Mohar)
• York Science Fellow, York University (with Ada Chan)
• Postdoctoral Fellow, Université de Montréal (Centre de Recherches Mathématiques, with Luc Vinet)

His research lies in the theoretical foundations of quantum walks, including perfect and fractional state transfer, uniform mixing, and spectral analysis of graphs. He has co-authored a book, Discrete Quantum Walks on Graphs and Digraphs (Cambridge University Press, 2023), and published in leading journals such as Linear Algebra and its Applications, Electronic Journal of Combinatorics, Quantum Information Processing, and Journal of Physics A.

The most recent articles highlight a sustained focus on quantum walk dynamics, particularly on state transfer phenomena, Laplacian-based walks, and spectral characterizations in structured graphs like circulants, Johnson schemes, and distance-regular graphs. His work often combines deep algebraic techniques with quantum information applications.

• Organizer, QIT Thinking Seminar, WPI
• Session Organizer, CMS and AMS Meetings (2023–2025)
• Mini-course on Discrete Quantum Walks, CMS Winter Meeting 2022

He has supervised undergraduate research through the Fields Undergraduate Summer Research Program and teaches core computer science courses such as Foundations of Computer Science and Theory of Computation at WPI. Previously, he taught courses in discrete mathematics, linear algebra, and quantum walks at Simon Fraser University, York University, and the University of Waterloo.

He is actively involved in the combinatorics and quantum information communities, regularly presenting at international conferences including the Joint Mathematics Meetings, CMS meetings, CanaDAM, and specialized workshops on quantum simulation and walks.