Sophia E. Hayes

Sophia E. Hayes is a Professor of Chemistry and Vice Dean of Graduate Education at Washington University in the College of Arts & Sciences. She received her PhD from the University of California, Santa Barbara and earned her BS at the University of California, Berkeley.

Her research spans:

• Optically-pumped NMR for quantum sensing in semiconductors
• NMR crystallography for atomic coordinate refinement
• Carbon capture materials analysis via NMR
• Computational NMR tensor library development
• Solid-state NMR of quadrupolar nuclei
• Topochemical reaction monitoring

Her publications focus on quantum computing applications, materials informatics, and climate solutions through semiconductor innovation and carbon sequestration technologies. Recent work integrates The Materials Project database with NMR spectroscopy.

Scientific honors include:

• National Academy of Inventors Senior Member
• AAAS Fellow
• NSF CAREER Award
• Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship
• TEDx speaker on climate science communication

Hayes mentors graduate students in quantum sensing, collaborates globally, and advocates for science communication through initiatives like the Blue Skies discussion group. Her lab uniquely combines high-field superconducting magnets with laser instrumentation for semiconductor studies.