Sophia Economou

Sophia Economou is a Professor of Physics and Director of the Center for Quantum Information Science and Engineering at Virginia Tech. She holds a Ph.D. from the University of California San Diego and specializes in theoretical condensed matter physics with a focus on quantum information science, quantum computing, and quantum control. Her research explores quantum algorithms (e.g., ADAPT-VQE), photonic graph state generation, and scalable quantum hardware architectures.

Key areas of investigation include dynamical quantum control protocols for superconducting qubits, error mitigation strategies in variational algorithms, and the development of noise-resistant quantum gates. She has pioneered protocols for generating entangled photonic states and optimizing resource requirements in quantum simulations. Her work is supported by grants from the Army Research Office (ARO), Department of Energy (DOE), and National Science Foundation (NSF).

Recent articles highlight advancements in adaptive variational methods, quantum repeater architectures using photonic graph states, and the application of Floquet engineering to non-equilibrium systems. She also contributes to educational initiatives, including quantum engineering curriculum development for undergraduate programs.