Michael Walter

Prof. Michael Walter is a Full Professor (W3 Chair) in Quantum Information at Ruhr University Bochum, affiliated with the Faculty of Computer Science and the Cluster of Excellence CASA. Previously, he held a Tenure-Track Assistant Professorship in Mathematics and Theoretical Physics at the University of Amsterdam (2017-2021) and was a Postdoctoral Scholar at Stanford University (2014-2017). He earned his Dr. sc. (PhD) from ETH Zurich in 2014 under Matthias Christandl, with a thesis on quantum state marginals. His research focuses on quantum information theory, tensor networks, and their connections to holography, complexity theory, and invariant theory.

Education: Dipl. Math. from University of Karlsruhe (KIT) and Georg-August-University Göttingen (2005-2010), advised by Thomas Schick. Postdoctoral work at Stanford expanded his expertise in quantum many-body systems and computational methods.

Research Interests: Quantum information’s intersection with geometry and algebra, including quantum entanglement, tensor network models of holography, and computational complexity. He explores applications of optimization theory and representation theory to quantum problems, such as the quantum marginal problem and non-commutative optimization.

Awards: ERC Starting Grant (2022), Early Career Award (KNAW, 2020), NWO Veni Laureate (2017), and ETH Medal (2014). His work bridges quantum computing, mathematics, and theoretical physics, with contributions to quantum gravity via tensor networks and algorithmic approaches to quantum states.

Grants & Leadership: Leads the Chair of Quantum Information, collaborating internationally on projects like holographic duality and quantum resource theories. His research group develops theoretical frameworks for quantum technologies and foundational quantum mechanics.

Labs/Teams: Active in CASA (Cluster of Excellence) at Ruhr University, focusing on advanced data science and computational methods. Collaborates with institutions like QuSoft (Amsterdam) and IQC (Waterloo).