Umesh Vazirani

Umesh Vazirani is the Roger A. Strauch Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences (EECS) at the University of California, Berkeley, and co-director of the Berkeley Quantum Computation Center (BQIC). His primary research focuses on quantum computing, algorithms, and complexity theory, with significant contributions to quantum cryptography, graph partitioning, and computational learning theory.

Education:
1986 - Ph.D. in Computer Science, UC Berkeley
1981 - B.S., MIT

Research Interests: Quantum computing foundations and applications, quantum algorithms development, complexity theory, cryptographic protocols, error-correcting codes, graph theory, and quantum information science. His work bridges theoretical computer science with practical quantum implementations.

Publications Focus: Vazirani's recent publications demonstrate strong emphasis on quantum supremacy, quantum cryptography, area laws in quantum systems, and quantum complexity theory. His work frequently addresses fundamental questions in quantum information processing and computational complexity.

Awards and Honors:

• ACM SIGECOM Test of Time Award (2024)
• STOC Test of Time Award (2023)
• National Academy of Sciences Member (2018)
• Delbert Ray Fulkerson Prize (2012)
• ACM Fellow (2005)
• NSF Presidential Young Investigator (1987)

Student Advising: Has supervised numerous PhD students including Scott Aaronson (MIT), Sanjeev Arora (Princeton), Madhu Sudan (Harvard), Thomas Vidick (Caltech), Urmila Mahadev, and current students Jonah Sherman and Guoming Wang.

Leadership: Directs the Berkeley Quantum Computation Center (BQIC) and collaborates with the Simons Institute for the Theory of Computing. Regularly teaches graduate courses on quantum computing and algorithms.