David Gosset

Faculty, Associate Professor

David Gosset

David Gosset joined the Institute for Quantum Computing (IQC) as an Associate Professor in the Department of Combinatorics and Optimization at the University of Waterloo on August 1, 2018.

Gosset received his PhD in Physics from MIT in 2011 under the supervision of Edward Farhi. His doctoral work focused on the power and limitations of quantum adiabatic algorithms. This spurred his interest in the computer science perspective on physics and its application to models of computation, the computational complexity of quantum many-body systems, and quantum algorithms.

He subsequently held postdoctoral fellowships at IQC and at Caltech, before joining the IBM T.J. Watson Research Center in 2016.

Gosset's research at IBM focused on fundamental questions in quantum algorithms and complexity theory which are guided by the impending availability of small quantum computers. He was most recently managing the Theory of Quantum Algorithms group at IBM, before returning to IQC.

Research expertise

  • Quantum algorithms
  • Classical simulation of quantum computation
  • Computational complexity of quantum many-body systems

Degrees

  • PhD, Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
  • BSc, Combined Honours Physics and Mathematics, University of British Columbia

Awards & honours

  • Fellow, Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (2019-present)
  • Outstanding paper award, TQC 2019, for "A compressed classical description of quantum states" with John Smolin
  • Pat Goldberg Memorial Best Paper Award (IBM Research), for “Quantum advantage with shallow circuits”, with S. Bravyi  and R. Koenig (2018)
  • Pat Goldberg Memorial Best Paper Award (IBM Research), for “Improved classical simulation of quantum circuits dominated by Clifford gates”, with S. Bravyi (2016)
  • Sherman Fairchild Prize Postdoctoral Fellowship in Theoretical Physics (2015-2016)
  • NSERC Postdoctoral Fellowship in Applied Mathematics (2013)
  • Marble Presidential Fellowship (MIT) (2006)
  • Rudi Haering Medal in Physics (UBC) (2006)

Major positions

Title Location When
Associate Faculty Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics 2021-present
Associate Professor Institute for Quantum Computing and Department of Combinatorics and Optimization, University of Waterloo 2018- Present
Research Staff Member and Manager, Theory of Quantum Algorithms Group IBM T.J. Watson Research Center 2018
Research Staff Member, Theory of Quantum Computing and Information Group IBM T.J. Watson Research Center 2016-2017
Sherman Fairchild Postdoctoral Fellow California Institute of Technology (Caltech) 2015-2016
Postdoctoral Fellow Institute for Quantum Computing and Department of Combinatorics and Optimization, University of Waterloo 2011-2014