K. Birgitta Whaley Explained

K. Birgitta Whaley
Birth Place:Barnehurst, Kent, England
Field:Chemistry, Physics, Quantum Information
Work Institution:University of California, Berkeley, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Alma Mater:Oxford University, University of Chicago
Doctoral Advisor:John C. Light

Katherine Birgitta Whaley (born 1956) is a professor of chemistry at the University of California Berkeley and a senior faculty scientist in the Division of Chemical Sciences at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.[1] At UC Berkeley, Whaley is the director of the Berkeley Quantum Information and Computation Center, a member of the executive board for the Center for Quantum Coherent Science, and a member of the Kavli Energy Nanosciences Institute.[2] At Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Whaley is a member of the Quantum Algorithms Team for Chemical Sciences in the research area of resource-efficient algorithms.[3]

Whaley's research team explores topics in the areas of quantum information, quantum computation, macroscopic quantum systems, and quantum control/simulation.[4] [5]

Education, career, and service

Whaley received her B.A. from Oxford University (1978) where she was a Nuffield Scholar at St Hilda's from 1974.[6] Whaley has stated that, during her undergraduate studies, she found it hard to decide whether to study chemistry or physics.[7] After graduating, Whaley was a Kennedy Fellow at Harvard University (1978–1979), and went on to receive her M. Sc. (1982) and Ph.D. (1984) from the University of Chicago where she was a student of John C. Light.[8] Her thesis was titled "Topics in molecule-surface scattering and multiphoton excitation dynamics".[9] She went on to be a Golda Meir Fellow at the Hebrew University, Jerusalem (1984–1985) and a post-doctoral fellow at Tel Aviv University (1985–1986) where she studied with Abraham Nitzan and Robert Gerber. Whaley joined the Chemistry faculty at UC Berkeley in 1986. Her interest in quantum biology was spurred by a series of low-temperature experiments in bacteria performed by Graham Fleming and his team in 2007.[7]

Whaley has been recognized by many awards for her scientific contributions in the course of her career. In 2002 she was nominated as a Fellow of American Physical Society by the Division of Computational Physics "for her contributions to theoretical understanding of quantum nanoscale phenomena, especially in superfluid helium droplets, and to control of decoherence in quantum information processing".[10]

Whaley served on the advisory board of the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics (KITP) at the University of California, Santa Barbara from 2014 to 2017 and was chairperson from 2016 to 2017.[11] From 2017-2018, Whaley was a Simons Distinguished Visiting Scholar/Scientist at KITP.[12] At the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, Whaley served on the scientific advisory committee from 2010 to 2013.[13] In the American Physical Society, Whaley served as vice chair, chair elect and then chair for the Division of Chemical Physics from 2009 to 2011. In 2016, Whaley also served as chair of the 2015 Fellowship Committee of the American Physical Society Division of Quantum Information.[14]

In the area of editorial roles, Whaley has served on the editorial board of Journal of Chemical Physics (2010–2012) and the Journal of Physical Chemistry (1998–2003). Since 1996, she has served on the editorial board of Chemical Physics. She a current member of the editorial boards of Quantum Information Processing (2005–), European Physical Journal (EPJ) Quantum Technology (2013–), and Advances in Physics X (2014–).

In October 2019, Whaley was appointed to the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.[15]

Research and notable publications

Awards

References

  1. Web site: K. Birgitta Whaley - Chemical Sciences Division Chemical Sciences Division. commons.lbl.gov. 2019-03-17.
  2. Web site: About – Center for Quantum Coherent Science (CQCS) at UC Berkeley. en-US. 2019-03-17.
  3. Web site: QAT4Chem - Team. QAT4Chem. en-US. 2019-05-02.
  4. Web site: K. Birgitta Whaley. Berkeley College of Chemistry.
  5. Web site: Whaley Group - Research. www.cchem.berkeley.edu. 2019-05-02.
  6. Book: American Chemical Society. Committee on Professional Training. Directory of Graduate Research. 2005. American Chemical Society. 129.
  7. Web site: In Pursuit of Quantum Biology With Birgitta Whaley. Byrne. Peter. Quanta Magazine. 2019-03-24.
  8. Web site: Chemistry Tree - K. Birgitta Whaley. academictree.org. 2019-03-16.
  9. Web site: K. Birgitta WHALEY - Google Scholar Citations. scholar.google.com. 2019-03-28.
  10. Web site: APS Fellow Archive. www.aps.org. en. 2019-05-02.
  11. Web site: Past KITP Advisory Board Members KITP. www.kitp.ucsb.edu. 2019-05-02.
  12. Web site: KITP Simons Distinguished Visiting Scholars/Scientists KITP. www.kitp.ucsb.edu. 2019-05-02.
  13. Web site: Four Leading Scientists Join Perimeter Institute Scientific Advisory Committee Perimeter Institute. perimeterinstitute.ca. 2019-05-02.
  14. Web site: Past Committees. www.aps.org. en. 2019-05-02.
  15. Web site: Quantum expert Birgitta Whaley appointed to White House science advisory council. news.berkeley.edu. en. 2019-11-11. 2019-10-22.
  16. Web site: Newly Elected Fellows. members.amacad.org. 2019-03-17.
  17. Web site: 9 UC Berkeley professors join American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Staff. Yao Huang . 2018-04-24. The Daily Californian. en-US. 2019-03-17.
  18. Web site: K. Birgitta Whaley. American Academy of Arts & Sciences. en. 2019-05-02.
  19. Web site: Previous Albrecht Lectures Chemistry & Chemical Biology Cornell Arts & Sciences. chemistry.cornell.edu. 2019-05-02.
  20. Web site: Quantum Frontiers Distinguished Lecture: K. Birgitta Whaley. Waterloo. QNC-Quantum Nano Centre 0101 200 University Avenue West. Canada. ON N2L 3G1. 2014-09-04. Waterloo Events. en. 2019-05-02.
  21. Web site: K. Birgitta Whaley, Ph.D.. K. Birgitta Whaley, Ph.D.. de. 2019-05-02.
  22. Web site: SDSC Headlines. www.sdsc.edu. 2019-05-02.

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