Control Your
Quantum Future

Russell Anderson PhD

Lead, Quantum Atomic Devices

As a Quantum Atomic Devices Lead, it is Russell’s job to develop next-generation quantum technology within various industries based on cutting edge hardware. These include quantum-assured position, navigation, and timing (PNT), and atomic magnetometers.

Quantum control and quantum sensing are two sides of the same coin. This exquisite reciprocity has guided Russell to develop next-generation quantum sensors and clocks based on atom-light interactions.

Russell completed his PhD at Swinburne University of Technology on Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC)interferometry. At Monash University, he co-founded the Spinor BEC laboratory where he developed microscale magnetic tensor gradiometry, new wavefunction engineering and continuous dynamical decoupling protocols, and took the first ever magnetic-resonance image of a BEC.

At La Trobe University as a Senior Lecturer, Russell has designed and modelled Australia’s first portable quantum atomic clock and introduced new perspectives on atomic magnetometry. He is also a leader in control and automation software for quantum technologies.

Russell is also a passionate and nationally awarded educator and education technologist. He received an Australian Award for University Teaching for inspiring students towards scientific computing in 2017, four Vice-Chancellor awards and citations, and was shortlisted for the Australian Financial Review Higher Education Technology Award in 2020.

Leonardo Andreta de Castro PhD

Lead Quantum Product Engineer

As a Lead Quantum Product Engineer at Q-CTRL, its Leo’s job to lead Q-CTRL’s Australian Quantum Product Engineering team in the development of strategies to reduce errors and create more robust gates in quantum computing devices.

Leo is a theoretical physicist, and his research has always focused on topics of quantum mechanics that are close to quantum computing. His undergraduate research in Brazil was about dynamical decoupling and quantum error correction.

In the following years, during his masters’ and PhD in Brazil, his research on quantum mechanics continued to touch on aspects of quantum information, in a mostly theoretical sense. Leo had more contact with applied research in actual quantum computing devices after he went to Duke to work as a postdoc.

Leo has a PhD in Physics from the University of São Paulo in where he researched quantum mechanics on the interface between foundations of physics and quantum information. Prior to Q-CTRL, he worked as a Postdoctoral Associate at Duke University where he researched quantum control and quantum error correction.

Aljon Aniban

Senior Front-end Consultant

As a Senior Front-end Consultant at Q-CTRL, it’s Aljon’s job to build beautiful and accessible user interfaces whilst producing performant code that is easy to understand, maintain and solves the right problems.

Aljon got hooked on the idea of working in something related to quantum physics - something completely new and exciting.

In his spare time, Aljon is learning photography and is specifically interested in street photography. To relax, Aljon enjoys watching Dota 2 tournaments and he’s also a fan of Formula One.

Aaron Barbosa

Quantum Control Engineer

As a Quantum Control Engineer, it is Aaron’s job to implement algorithms on quantum devices and develop tools to enhance their performance.

His undergraduate career was originally focused on developing software for use in atmospheric physics and quickly developed a passion for machine learning and data science. Aaron’s main interest starting shifting towards quantum computing after learning about its potential applications in machine learning and quantum chemistry.

During the latter half of his undergraduate journey, Aaron worked at CU Boulder and Los Alamos National Lab - where he focused on improving the performance of quantum algorithms and quantum devices by using various machine learning and optimization techniques.

Outside of physics, Aaron has built and programmed autonomous robots for use in remote sensing.

Ryan Barker

Lead Back-end Engineer

As a Lead Back-end Engineer, It’s Ryan’s job to produce easy-to-use, standards-compliant and efficient APIs and related back-end services.

Prior to Q-CTRL, Ryan spent over 12 years at Appen, where he contributed to the creation of software for the provision and improvement of data used for the development of machine learning and artificial intelligence products used by Facebook, Twitter, Apple, Google and Amazon. Ready for a new challenge, the emerging quantum field seemed like the obvious next step.

Yuval Baum PhD

Lead Quantum Automation Scientist

Already as a young physics bachelor, Yuval was fascinated with Quantum mechanics and quickly decided to opt in for a PhD as the logical next step.

During his PhD at the Weizmann Institute in Israel, Yuval worked on different aspects of quantum physics such as classification of topological phases and transport properties of quantum devices - receiving the Rothschild Fellowship Prize for his reasearch efforts.

After his PhD, Yuval became an IQIM (Institute for Quantum Information and Matter) fellow at Caltech, where he studied the behavior of complex quantum many-body-systems. He closely studied different control schemes allowing us to use these systems in future application of quantum devices/computers.

Yuval is also interested in employing state-of-the-art machine learning and statistical inference techniques in order to predict, understand and optimize the behavior of complex and noisy systems.

Albert Benseny Cases PhD

Staff Quantum Control Engineer

As a Staff Solution Engineer, it is Albert’s job to find the best way to drive the dynamics inside quantum machines so that they behave exactly as we want them to.

Albert has a MSc in Photonics (Interuniversity program involving four universities/research centres around Barcelona: UAB, UB, UPC and ICFO) and a PhD in Physics from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (under the supervision of Prof. Jordi Mompart).

Albert was lucky enough that when studying physics at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, the local research groups taught courses in quantum optics and quantum information, which spurred his interest. He learned everything he could and eventually joined the quantum and atom optics group as an undergraduate with a grant to carry out a small research project. He tinkered a bit with techniques to manipulate ultracold atoms, and got hooked! He stayed in the group for his PhD, studying how to make the atoms do whatever we needed them to do, but also trying to understand some of the quantum quirkiness going on.

After finishing his PhD, Albert was a postdoc for four years in Japan (at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology) and a year in Denmark (at Aarhus University) - where he worked on a wide variety of techniques to manipulate quantum systems.

Albert enjoys doing science outreach and has taught quantum courses for a general audience. He also participated in physics exhibits and programming workshops for children on top of being an accomplished writer - having published 20 peer-reviewed articles and two book chapters.

Christopher Bentley PhD

Lead Solution Engineer

As a Lead Solution Engineer, it is Chris’s job to develop quantum control software to explore and optimise quantum systems, building on his experience in quantum physics and machine learning.

From the outset of his studies in quantum mechanics, Chris enjoyed its conceptual challenges and delighted in understanding the fine workings of the universe. He completed his undergraduate and Honours studies at the ANU and was awarded the University Medal for Physics. He then continued at the ANU for his PhD, where he worked on the design and optimisation of gates for trapped-ion quantum computers, and explored how to leverage rather than suffer from additional environmental interactions.

After postdoctoral studies in Dresden at the Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems, his interest in machine learning took him to Data61 and the Transport Analytics group, where he developed his data science and machine learning expertise and led the AI in Transport team. Chris returned to the quantum field when the opportunity to combine his interests and skills arose at Q-CTRL.

Tabish Bidiwale

Back-end Engineer

As a Back-end Engineer, it is Tabish’s job to help develop, test, and maintain the back-end services and associated API’s for Q-CTRL’s products.

Tabish had not worked in the Quantum industry prior to Q-CTRL, but is still highly excited about the field itself. As a teenager, he was highly interested in physics and in Quantum Mechanics - watching and reading the Feynman lectures out of curiosity. His focus then shifted more towards classical computers and programming, but still kept a keen interest in Quantum technology.

Tabish recently completed a Bachelor of Computer Science from the University of Sydney. Now joining Q-CTRL, Tabish looks forward to seeing the advancements of the industry coming in the future years.

Prof. Michael J. Biercuk PhD

Founder and Chief Executive Officer

Michael is Professor of Quantum Physics and Quantum Technology at The University of Sydney where he leads a team working to develop advanced technology powered by quantum physics. Out of this research, Michael saw a gap in the market for a company which made this knowledge available outside of the lab. Michael is also Chief Investigator in the ARC Centre of Excellence for Engineered Quantum Systems.

Michael completed his Masters and PhD at Harvard University. After university, he held a research fellowship in the Ion Storage Group at NIST Boulder under the supervision of 2012 Nobel Laureate in Physics Dr. David Wineland. He has also worked as a consultant to DARPA, helping steer government investments in quantum information and next-generation computer architectures.

As one of the world’s leading authorities on quantum physics and technology, Michael is a regular contributor to both the technical literature and the popular press. He is a TEDx speaking alumnus and winner of the 2015 Eureka Prize for Outstanding Early Career Researcher.

André Carvalho PhD

Head of Quantum Control Solutions

Andre Carvalho is the Head of Quantum Control Solutions at Q-CTRL.

He completed his PhD at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro before joining the Max-Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems in Dresden as a postdoctoral fellow. He then spent more than a decade as a researcher at the Australian National University, where he worked across disciplines, bringing together expertise from physicists and engineers to develop control solutions for quantum technology problems. He has also worked as a senior research fellow at Griffith University.

Andre has a vast international experience and is widely recognised for his contributions to the field of quantum control.

Kevin Chee

Head of Product

It’s Kevin’s job to build products that customers love.

Having had an interest in quantum mechanics since his days at Melbourne’s Monash University - where he completed a Bachelor of Business, a Bachelor of Computing and a Bachelor of Technology - Kevin was surprised to see the evolution into quantum computing happening so quickly and jumped at the opportunity to be involved in the development of quantum technology without the need for a PhD!

With more than 10 years experience working up and down the entire product development stack in both Lean and Agile software development environments and across a variety of industry verticals, Kevin holds both Certified Scrum Master (CSM) and Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO) qualifications from the Scrum Alliance.

Jiayin Chen

Quantum Control Engineer

At Q-CTRL, it is Jiayin’s job to develop novel schemes to model complex noisy quantum systems with her knowledge in quantum technology and control theory.

Jiayin graduated from Honours in Electrical Engineering (Research & Development) and Advanced Mathematics in 2017 at the Australian National University (ANU). She then undertook internships at Data61 CSIRO on allocation algorithms and machine learning for mineral exploration.

Jiayin is a Scientia PhD candidate at UNSW Sydney, working on the intersection between quantum technology and machine learning. She draws on diverse expertise in nonlinear control, quantum control, stochastic modelling and machine learning to invent new ways to model complex systems.

Michael Conroy

Senior Product Manager

Michael is a Senior Product Manager at Q-CTRL. He helps define and deliver the right product for our customers.

He first heard about quantum computing while doing his Bachelors of Computer Science degree at University of Newcastle. He kept an eye on the field and nurtured his love of science and technology while a reporter for Wired Magazine in London, and maintained a keen interest as the field developed.

He then spent nearly a decade in Adtech, first as Head of Insight and Innovation leading a team of data scientists (where they delivered award-winning projects for some of the world’s largest brands including Sony, Activision and The BBC), and later as a Technical Product Lead.

More recently and prior to Q-CTRL, Mick was working as a Product Manager at CSIRO’s Data61 where he relaunched the Ribit platform, which has subsequently provided the critical first job for thousands of science and technology students in Australia.

Luigi Cristofolini

Senior Back-end Engineer

As a Senior Back-end Engineer, It’s Luigi’s job to collaborate with all teams to develop the back-end capabilities for Q-CTRL’s product suite.

Prior to Q-CTRL, Luigi spent four years at Neo Networks and, despite being a Software Engineer, he has always had a strong interest in physics. Luigi is amazed by the quantum domain and is excited to help Q-CTRL build the future of quantum computing.

Luigi has a Bachelor’s degree in Information Technology from the University of the Alto Vale do Itajaí and a Post Graduate degree in Computer Software Engineering from Santa Catarina State University.

Alex Dask

Digital Marketing Manager

As a Digital Marketing Manager, it is Alex’s job to build awareness around the Q-CTRL brand.

Alex has always been interested in innovative technology and in more recent times he became fascinated by quantum tech. He’s especially excited about the potential impact this technology will have on society in the coming years.

Throughout his decade long digital marketing career, Alex has managed in excess of $10M across a number of channels with a breadth of experience ranging from agency-side to technology startups tolarge corporations.Prior to joining Q-CTRL, Alex has worked at growth marketing agencies in New York City, with a heavy focus on Paid Media and Conversion Rate Optimization.

John Dieckmann

Front-end Engineer

As a Front-end Engineer, it’s John’s job to build responsive and robust front-end applications for the future of quantum technology.

John has always been intrigued by the developments and ideas behind quantum technology and when the opportunity to step into the industry came about, he jumped right in.

John joined Q-CTRL from a Full-Stack developer role at Plutora where he spent most of his time building in React on an existing platform. He also played a significant role in building a React application from scratch for a new system.

When John is not writing code, you’ll find him gaming or scouting the city for the best ramen bowl.

Mark Do

Product Designer

As a Product Designer at Q-CTRL, it’s Mark’s job to design experiences that will revolutionize the next generation of computing.

Prior to joining Q-CTRL, Mark was the Lead Designer at Trabr, where he was contributing to the renovating and building revolution. Mark also opened a fried chicken joint in Cabramatta (Sydney, Australia) in 2017 which has since closed. Ironically, Mark is now vegan.

Jasper Du

Junior Front-end Engineer

As a Junior Front-end Engineer at Q-CTRL, it’s Jasper’s job to build 3D animations and beautiful user interfaces.

Prior to joining Q-CTRL, Jasper was a Junior Full Stack Engineer at PALO IT where he used design thinking, agile and DevOps techniques to help customers disrupt their own industries.

Jasper is a graduate of the Coding Bootcamp at the University of Sydney and is a certified PADI Divemaster.

Patrick Everitt PhD

Staff Quantum Sensing Engineer

As a Staff Quantum Sensing Engineer it is Patrick’s job to develop devices and control solutions for next generation quantum senses.

Patrick completed his PhD at the Australian National University where he designed and built a dual-species Bose-Einstein condensate apparatus. Through this he developed an interest in atomic physics and quantum sensing utilising atomic interferometry. He then joined the Defence Science and Technology Group as part of the newly formed Quantum Technology Group. Here he worked within various Government-University partnerships, including the Next Generation Technology Fund and STaR Shot program, with a focus on generating sensors for quantum-assured navigation.

Christopher Farrenden

Lead DevOps Engineer

As Lead DevOps Engineer, Chris is responsible for the performance, availability, reliability, scalability and security of Q-CTRL’s cloud infrastructure by using his knowledge to help both operations and development teams to get the best out of the cloud and to always be looking at new ways to implement cloud best practices.

Chris was drawn to the quantum industry due to his genuine interest in science and technology. Prior to Q-CTRL, he played a key role in many Kubernetes migration projects and worked on multiple cloud cost optimization initiatives during his time at Domain and Bulletproof.

Chris holds a Bachelor of Computer Science from the University of New England as well as multiple AWS and GCP Certifications.

Christopher Ferrie PhD

Quantum Education Advisor

As a Quantum Education Advisor, it Chris’s job to advise on the development of educational product architecture and design; the development of novel quantum computing educational content; and the design and implementation of novel approaches to interactive education.

Dr Christopher Ferrie is an Associate Professor in the Centre for Quantum Software and Information where he holds an ARC DECRA Fellowship. Chris obtained a PhD in Quantum Information from the Institute for Quantum Computing at the University of Waterloo in Canada.

Outside of academia, Chris is best-selling children’s book author, with titles including Quantum Computing for Babies.

Karandeep Gill

Quantum Sensing Engineer

As a Quantum Sensing Engineer at Q-CTRL, it’s Karandeep’s job to apply theoretical and computational tools in order to assist in the development of next-generation quantum sensors.

Karandeep’s first exposure to quantum technology was through an undergraduate research project in quantum sensing. Because he found this field to be incredibly exciting and full of many new opportunities, this led to Karandeep completing an Honours thesis in the same field.

Prior to joining Q-CTRL, Karandeep spent the summer of 2020/21 working as a research intern in the Department of Quantum Science at the Australian National University.

Debra Gooley

Finance and Operations Manager

Deb provides finance and operations support to the Q-CTRL executive and group of companies. This includes streamlining the grants application and management processes, managing the financial reporting to investors, clients and public-sector organizations and providing financial advice and governance for Q-CTRL.

Prior to Q-CTRL, Deb has worked within the Quantum Sciences Group in the School of Physics at The University of Sydney and as Finance Officer for the ARC Centre of Excellence in All-sky Astrophysics.

By joining Q-CTRL, Deb is looking forward to playing a part in the emerging industry of quantum technology within a fast-paced startup environment.

Rob Harkness

Front-end Consultant

Rob is a web developer with over 10 years experience across a range of technical domains - including high-demand audio-visual media streaming and networking. At Q-CTRL, Rob is helping to build front-end applications and quantum visualization tools for our customers. Prior to joining Q-CTRL, Rob worked as a Streaming Media Technician with NASDAQ and is a graduate of the Web Development Immersive course at General Assembly.

Hugh Hope Murray

DevOps Engineer

As a DevOps Engineer, it is Hugh’s job to make sure the software works in the places it needs, at all times of the day and year and with all the features the client wants.

Hugh always had an interest in Quantum technology and studied physics in his undergrad years, althought never had the opportunity to work with anything quantum related at a consumer level. When an opening at Q-CTRL presented itself, he jumped right in.

Prior to Q-CTRL, Hugh worked at Sentral Education, where he improved deployment processes to speed up bringing new schools online and setup pipelines to allow for continuous integration with all production systems.

If not playing around with the latest DevOps tools, you can find Hugh enjoying a cold beverage with friends, going for a hike, or gaming.

Michael Hush PhD

Chief Scientific Officer

Michael leads the global quantum team at Q-CTRL. He completed his PhD in quantum physics at ANU, where he also won the University Medal for Theoretical Physics. Following his PhD came a research fellowship at the Research School of Engineering at ANU, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Nottingham and a research and teaching role in the School of Engineering and Information Technology at UNSW Canberra at ADFA.

Michael won the 2017 Young Innovator Award at the Unearthed Hackathon and was a lecturer at UNSW Canberra at ADFA.

Matthew Jeppesen

Quantum Sensing Recruitment Consultant

As a Quantum Sensing Recruitment Consultant at Q-CTRL, It’s Matthew’s job to help with recruitment of new hardware and software experts.

Matthew came to work in quantum technology via energy system modelling and solar forecasting, where a career highlight was installing a sky camera for solar forecasting at a 30 MW solar farm in Queensland.

Matthew once organized an experiment for primary school children in Melbourne and Cairns to measure the size of the Earth to within 10%, with shadows, strings and protractors, using a method developed over 2000 years ago by the mathematician Eratosthenes.

Amanda Jones

Marketing Manager

As a Marketing Manager at Q-CTRL, it’s Amanda’s job to raise the profile of the brand by telling our unique story, to educate the wider community about what Q-CTRL does do and why it matters, to bust myths and to test and learn.

Prior to joining Q-CTRL, Amanda worked for global media agency 1000heads where she worked to transform how brands talk and are talked about for clients across the gaming, B2B and B2C technology, telecommunications and retail sectors.

Amanda has a Bachelor of Arts majoring in English Literature and Ancient History from the University of Newcastle in Australia.

Yansen Kurniawan

User Interface Designer

As a UI Designer, it is Yansen’s job to present complex ideas in a simple way. Yansen is passionate about good design and takes a human-centric approach.

Yansen is curious about quantum technology and its unexplored territories. He is hopeful for its future especially in medical science and research. While he’s not keeping busy with work, you could find him going to see a show/musical, trying out a new recipe or playing with his dog, Louix at the park.

Yansen has more than 10 years experience working at design agencies collaborating with entrepreneurs, small businesses and corporations in various industries such as finance, airlines, telecommunication, health and technology. Seeing the positive impact of his work on these businesses has been especially rewarding for him.

Li Li PhD

Senior Quantum Control Engineer

As a Senior Quantum Control Engineer, it is Li’s job to develop control solutions for various quantum systems with his knowledge in quantum mechanics and control theory; improving algorithm performance with machine learning and optimization techniques.

Li began his journey in quantum science as an experimentalist in a research group at USTC focusing on quantum optics, where he had successfully simulated a controllable quantum non-Markovian system with linear optics.

He completed his PhD at Griffith University, his research mainly focusing on the dynamics of open quantum systems and quantum feedback control.

Jack Li PhD

Product Manager

At Q-CTRL, it’s Jack’s job to translate state-of-the-art quantum control and machine learning research into valuable products with a delightful user experience for customers.

Jack completed his PhD and subsequently worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the Australian National University where he focused on developing and studying artificial neurons and synapses built with nanomaterials. His interests in neuromorphic computing guided him to CNRS-Thales in Paris-Saclay, where he worked at the intersection of machine learning, applied physics and neuroscience.

With strong interests in science and deep tech, he is excited to combine his passion and skills to help enable the development and application of scalable quantum systems.

Per Liebermann PhD

Senior Quantum Control Engineer

At Q-CTRL, Per contributes to the development of our suite of quantum control software products - including research on quantum control techniques and software integration. He brings deep expertise in both optimal control theory and the physics of superconducting circuits for quantum computing.

Since High School, the spooky world of quantum physics and its mathematical description has fascinated Per and observing quantum phenomena - not only with single electrons or atoms but on larger structures, even within electrical circuits - has been a source of intrigue and one of the reasons he chose to pursue a PhD in physics.

Per completed his PhD at Saarland University under the supervision of Frank Wilhelm where he was part of the team involved in the creation of the EU Quantum Optimal Control Roadmap.

Philip Light PhD

Principal Quantum Sensing Engineer

As a Principal Quantum Sensing Engineer, it is Philip’s role to develop device designs and control solutions for quantum sensors based on cutting edge hardware.

He spent his PhD developing novel photonic crystal fibres, which led into precision measurement techniques, which naturally involve quantum technologies for best performance.

Maggie Liuzzi

Software Engineer

As a Software Engineer, it is Maggie’s job to research and implement novel machine learning algorithms to solve challenging control and characterisation problems faced by our customers.

During her Bachelors in Economics, Maggie learned to see the world from the lens of mathematics and statistics. She then started teaching herself how to code out of curiosity and went on to do a Masters in Software Development to further develop her skills. She completed her Masters degree with a research project involving some cute Pepper robots at UTS’ Social Robotics Lab - which won RoboCup’s Home category in 2019.

Prior to Q-CTRL, Maggie has dipped her toes in various industries, from digital marketing at Google to non-for-profit, banking, tutoring and more recently LiDAR and autonomous vehicles.

Maggie is looking forward to learning the ins and outs of the world of quantum and applying Machine Learning in this field that is completely new to her. She is also highly interested in Reinforcement Learning and is considering doing a PhD in the field sometime in the future.

Rosalind Loo

Head of Finance

As the Head of Finance at Q-CTRL, it’s Rosalind’s job to understand the business, the revenues and costs, to build-out reporting and planning that matter and to optimize financial processes to scale with the business.

Ros is obsessed with building data-driven finance functions to support the growth of businesses. Prior to joining Q-CTRL, Ros was the Chief Financial Officer at Practice Ignition, a Senior Auditor at KPMG and in 2019 was chosen as one of Acuity Mag’s future leaders.

Ros holds a Bachelor of Commerce and Bachelor of Information Technology (Honours) from the University of Sydney and is a certified Chartered Accountant.

Robert Love

Chief Technology Officer

As the first employee and CTO of Q-CTRL, Robert is responsible for building and leading the software engineering teams and delivering value to customers by ensuring scientific R&D translates to product development.

Previously, Robert worked as Chief Technology Officer for the Innovation and Digital Ventures group at PwC Australia and was General Manager of Product and Engineering at Australia’s pre-eminent startup incubator - Pollenizer.

Robert is an invited expert on the W3C HTML Working Group, a Member of the Australian Web Industry Association and Web Standards Group and a is Certified Scrum Master.

Christina Maresca

Senior Product Designer

As a Senior Product Designer, it is Christina’s job to take the complex concepts of quantum technology, and turn them into simple, intuitive, user-centric flows and interfaces.

Christina is excited and intrigued by the emerging industry of quantum technology, and feels it has the potential to make a positive impact on the world. She is motivated by the pivotal role design will play in allowing people to comprehend this ambiguous field.

Prior to Q-CTRL, Christina completed a Bachelor of Graphic Design from the University of Canberra and graduated with Chancellor’s Commendation. She then worked within the design industry for over seven years, helping new brands and start-ups develop an online presence, whilst improving their user experience. Most recently, she has been designing and developing digital learning solutions for some of Australia’s biggest household names.

Sam Marsh

Senior Quantum Control Engineer

As a Senior Quantum Control Engineer at Q-CTRL, It’s Sam’s job to develop approaches to the implementation of quantum algorithms utilizing quantum control techniques to improve performance on noisy hardware.

Prior to joining Q-CTRL, Sam was a Lecturer and Teaching Assistant at the University of Western Australia, where he assisted in the design of the Masters-level computational physics module.

Sam has a Bachelor of Science (Physics and Computer Science) with first-class honours from the University of Western Australia and has recently finalized his thesis for Doctorate in Physics.

Thomas Merkh

Senior Machine Learning Scientist

As a Senior Machine Learning Engineer, it is Thomas’s job to research and implement state-of-the-art machine learning techniques for developing optimized control strategies.

Thomas’s interest in quantum computing first arose during high school while taking an online EdX course on quantum algorithms. After this, he spent his time during undergraduate deepening his knowledge on quantum mechanics meanwhile conducting computational research in thin film nanotechnology.This led him to graduate school at UCLA, where his research focused on analyzing novel machine learning models. He found the opportunities in quantum technology to be the ideal mix for his machine learning and physics background.

Thomas has several peer reviewed works in physics and mathematics, including a book chapter in the coming text “Mathematics of Deep Learning”. Additionally, at the start of the covid-19 pandemic, he developed a top-performing model for a “CT diagnosis of COVID-19” challenge.

Prior to joining Q-CTRL, Thomas was conducting machine learning research as a graduate student at UCLA and presented his work at several international conferences. He was also previously a visiting researcher at the Max Planck Institute, an intern for the Air Force Research Lab, and also worked with the Aerospace Corporation on a reinforcement learning project.

In his spare time, Thomas can be found road biking up the mountains of Southern California, playing poker, or playing fetch with his golden retriever Balto.

Damien Metcalf

Head of Design

Damien ensures that the Q-CTRL experience is not only easy and intuitive, but also delightful to use. From the brand to the software, every part of Q-CTRL has Damien’s designer touch. With over 10 years experience across branding, UX/UI design, full-stack development and building enterprise-level systems, Damien likes to find ways to make complex things simple.

Alistair Milne PhD

Senior Quantum Sensing Engineer

At Q-CTRL, it is Alistair’s job to develop device designs and control solutions for quantum sensors based on cutting edge hardware, including atomic interferometers and magnetometers.

Alistair completed his PhD at The University of Sydney, where he designed and built an ion trap for quantum computing and quantum simulation research. He specifically focused on the development of techniques for measuring and supressing error in multi-qubit entangling gates.

Anurag Mishra PhD

Lead Quantum Product Engineer

As a Lead Quantum Product Engineer at Q-CTRL, it’s Anurag’s job to lead Q-CTRL’s United States Quantum Product Engineering team in the development and deployment of better error correction and control strategies by understanding quantum systems in a bottom-up manner.

Anurag got his first experience of quantum computing during his undergraduate sophomore year internship. He kept going with more internships over the next two years - playing with quantum random walks and control of laser systems involved in NV-center based qubit experiment. He then earned his PhD at University of Southern California under Prof. Daniel Lidar (his graduate thesis focused on error correction and quantum testing of quantum annealing device).

Prior to Q-CTRL, Anurag led the quantum computing effort at Qulab Inc, where his work became the focus of one of the three press releases of Qulab. Along with his collaborators, he proved that the behavior of the D-Wave device, a commercial quantum annealer, cannot be explained by any reasonable classical model while an open system quantum model can successfully explain its behavior - finally settling the debate about the quantum nature of the device.

Pranav Mundada PhD

Senior Quantum Control Engineer

Pranav has been interested in quantum technology since the start of his journey as an undergrad Physics student at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. He was awarded the KVPY fellowship from the Govt. of India for pursuing research in basic sciences.

Pranav moved on to pursue a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering at Princeton University, looking to acquire in-depth domain knowledge. He explored architectural designs, device fabrication and optimal control of novel quantum devices with superconducting circuits. He was awarded the Porter Ogden Jacobus Fellowship, the highest graduate honor given by Princeton University, for his research.

Pranav is applying his experience as an experimentalist to the state-of-the-art optimization techniques to optimize the control of real quantum hardware.

Felicity Nielson

Quantum Control Engineer

As a Quantum Control Engineer at Q-CTRL, it’s Felicity’s job to engage in research, demonstrations, software development, testing, performance, reliability and documentation of control solutions for quantum technologies.

Prior to joining Q-CTRL, Felicity was a Research Associate at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) and a Software Engineer in the Emerging Systems and Software team at Western Digital, where she worked on modelling, simulation, analysis, and optimization of data analytics applications using Valgrind and software engineering techniques.

Felicity has a Bachelor of Science (Physics) from Brigham Young University.

Viktor Perunicic PhD

Senior Solution Engineer

At Q-CTRL, Viktor develops bespoke quantum computing and quantum sensing solutions for Q-CTRL’s customers in a wide range of industries.

Motivated by the challenge of understanding complicated systems - whether in society or in science - and driven by a love of technology and the transformative power of turning the deeply perplexing into practical solutions - Viktor was naturally drawn to quantum.

Based on presently available qubit technology, Viktor has developed and patented a method to miniaturize Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) technology onto a chip for the purpose of imaging the 3D atomic structure of individual proteins in native cellular environments.

Viktor completed his PhD at The University of Melbourne under the supervision of ARC Laureate Fellow, Professor Lloyd Hollenberg, and has worked at the Centre for Quantum Computation and Communication Technology (CQC2T) - specialising in applications of quantum control in biotech.

Viktor has served on the board of the The Royal Society of Victoria for the past three years, he is the author of a number of high-impact publications and is an invited speaker at conferences both nationally and internationally.

Richard Rademacher

Senior Quantum Hardware Engineer

As a Senior Quantum Hardware Engineer, it is Rich’s job to design, test, and implement custom physical electronics needed for advanced quantum sensing. These include real-time controllers based on embedded microprocessors, digital signal processors (DSPs) and field programmable gate array (FPGA) devices, analog mixed-signal circuits, robust power supplies, and associated realtime embedded firmware.

Rich completed an MSc degree in Applied Physics/Quantum Information from the University of Waterloo standing up two laboratories on trapped-ion quantum computers, and an MSc degree in Electrical Engineering from the Air Force Institute of Technology in statistical signal processing of radar phase histories.

As a Captain in the U.S. Air Force Rich held positions in turbine engine design, systems engineering, program management, and supercomputing system infrastructure management. Prior to military service, he was lead DSP engineer for Aerostream Communications.

Rich’s interests interests are in algorithm development for quantum error correcting codes, noise characteristics of quantum processes, and classical-quantum hybrid algorithms.

Aravind Ratnam

Chief Strategy Officer

As Q-CTRL’s Chief Strategy Officer, Aravind will work across the team to help refine and implement a strategy that delivers commercial and technical successes.

An execution focused, high energy strategy and product leader, Aravind is an engineer/ physicist who has been at the forefront of technology, spending time across engineering, management consulting, corporate strategy and product management in prominent silicon valley companies (ASML, Intel) and has played a role in two startup exits.

Aravind holds Master’s degrees in Space Science from Florida Tech and in System Design and Management from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He has been up in zero gravity on a KC 135 aircraft, is an avid amateur astronomer and classical musician and enjoys playing golf occasionally.

Matt Rogers

Head of Operations

As the Head of Operations at Q-CTRL, it’s Matt’s job to help the global team scale its business operations through a lightweight approach which allows both the team and individual to thrive in their roles and the company to grow.

Early in Matt’s career, he had the privilege of working at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), where he was involved in quantum-related research. He was blown away by the potential of the technology and energy of all those involved.

Matt is excited to be back in the quantum field - now with a focus on commercialization.

Anthony Santana

Quantum Control Engineer

As a Quantum Control Engineer at Q-CTRL, it’s Anthony’s job to develop control solutions to problems in quantum information.

Whilst finishing his degree in theoretical physics, Anthony joined a research group focused on problems in computational quantum control. Anthony then transitioned to a research position in the Quantum Computing Institute at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, USA. At Oak Ridge, Anthony worked on quantum algorithm and hardware research to benchmark NISQ-era quantum devices.

Anthony has spent several weeks backpacking through the Alaskan boreal forest with an environmental science research group, where he helped collect drone imagery of post-wildfire portions of the forest and built 3D tomographic reconstructions of the areas. These techniques have since been suggested as an alternative to manually monitoring forest health over large landmasses.

Anthony has a Bachelor of Science (Physics) from the American University.

Jack Saywell PhD

Senior Quantum Sensing Engineer

As a Senior Quantum Sensing Engineer at Q-CTRL, Jack is responsible for developing and analyzing device designs, operational mechanisms, and control solutions for quantum sensors based on cutting edge hardware.

Prior to joining Q-CTRL, Jack was an EPSRC Doctoral Prize Research Fellow at the University of Southampton. His research focused on optimal control techniques to improve the sensitivity and robustness of atom interferometric Quantum Sensors.

Jack completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Oxford and has a PhD in Atomic Physics from the University of Southampton.

Dominik Schmid

Senior Software Engineer

As a Senior Software Engineer, it is Dom’s job to make Quantum systems more effective by developing control software using machine learning and optimization techniques.

Dom got hooked by videos on the strangeness of Bell’s Theorem and after a period of self-study, created a GPU-accelerated quantum computer simulator as a passion project.

Prior to Q-CTRL, Dom worked as a Software Engineer at Google for many years, developing statistical methods to scalably analyze physical shared risk between network fiber.

Tom Stace PhD

Principal Quantum Control Engineer

Tom has been doing quantum science for over 20 years. His role at Q-CTRL is to develop new sensors and improve quantum control. He has done extensive theoretical research on quantum error correction, measurement, and device physics, covering domains from the quantum thermodynamics of neutron stars, to the coherent transport of energy around photosynthetic systems in plants. He has worked closely with experimental groups to build quantum devices in the lab, including solid-state superconducting devices and atomic systems.

He completed his PhD in 2003 at the University of Cambridge, UK, on quantum information in solid-state quantum systems. He has held a variety of Australian Research Council Fellowships, including the Future Fellowship from 2015 to 2019.

Tom joins Q-CTRL from a professorship at the University of Queensland, where he was the Deputy Director for the ARC Centre for Engineered Quantum Systems, a national research consortium spanning 5 different universities.

Stuart Szigeti PhD

Principal Quantum Sensing Engineer

At Q-CTRL, it is Stuart’s job to develop quantum control protocols for next-generation quantum sensors. He has extensive experience in the fields of quantum optics and quantum-atom optics, with a particular focus on Bose-Einstein condensation, quantum measurement and control, and cold-atom sensing. His research agenda is concerned with both advancing our fundamental understanding of quantum measurement, quantum control, and ultracold atomic physics, and with translational impact that improves sensing capabilities in fields as diverse as navigation, space science, and hydrology.

Stuart completed his Ph.D. in February 2013 at The Australian National University (ANU). He subsequently worked as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Queensland, Australia, and as an Australia Awards-Endeavour Research Fellow at the University of Otago, New Zealand, before returning to the ANU in 2018. During his time at the ANU, Stuart worked closely with the experimental Quantum Sensors Group in the Department of Quantum Science, in the capacity of theory and computational physics support. In 2020 he was awarded an Australian Research Council DECRA Fellowship (Project: Optimising Space-Based Atom Interferometer Design).

Camille Vachon

Manager - People and Talent

Camille is responsible for managing Q-CTRL’s People and Talent functions - attracting and retaining outstanding talent and establishing Q-CTRL as an employer of choice and a great place to work.

Camille found the quantum world highly intriguing due to its huge and largely unknown and untapped potential. Q-CTRL piqued her curiosity instantly and she is truly excited to work with a technology and a company that could completely disrupt the 21st Century.

Prior to joining Q-CTRL, Camille had been making her mark in the technology recruitment industry with her drive, energy and market knowledge. As a consultant, she has worked with a wide range of clients - from emerging startups to large consulting firms. Camille is also the organizer of multiple technology Meetups across Sydney, Australia.

Frank Vincze

Head of Business Development and Partnerships

As Head of Business Development and Partnerships at Q-CTRL, it’s Frank’s job to establish and nurture industry and academic relationships for the long-term. Building these connections with the goal of sharing in the advancement of quantum technology demonstrates Q-CTRL as an integral contributor.

Prior to Q-CTRL, Frank helped build the standards-compliant mobile wireless (5G, LTE and WLAN) market segment at MathWorks which now contributes approximately $7M annually.

Nathanial Wilson PhD

Senior Quantum Sensing Engineer

As a Senior Quantum Sensing Engineer, it is Nathanial’s job to exploit quantum phenomena in order to develop next-generation sensors.

Nathanial was initially intrigued by the complexity of quantum physics, but soon discovered just how integral it was in the development of modern technologies. It was then that he decided to pursue a PhD in experimental quantum physics - specifically, quantum magnetometry.

During his PhD, he developed a novel measurement technique which extends the bandwidth of quantum magnetometers by many orders of magnitude.

In his spare time, nate enjoys volunteering, hiking (especially at night!), working on cars, and listening to music.

Tyson Wolker

Lead Front-end Engineer

As a Lead Front-end Engineer, it is Tyson’s job to ensure that the front-end product we build is beautiful, performant, accessible for all and can be enjoyed on our supported browsers. It’s his aim to create consistency in our front-end stack to allow our team of engineers to focus on solving the real problems.

Tyson sparked his passion for programming in his teenage years while building numerous indie games. Combined with a strong interest in deep tech, joining Q-CTRL as a Front-end Lead seemed like a logical next step. Tyson believes quantum tech and machine learning to be exciting, unexplored territories that truly allows to create innovative products that have no blueprints for how to build said product.

He carries over 10 years of experience in software engineering working full-stack in various industries in mining, media & entertainment to aviation. Prior to Q-CTRL, he worked at Qantas for 3 years as a team lead, building out their core software engineering capability.

Roksolana Yasynevych

Senior Front-end Engineer

As a Senior Front-end Engineer at Q-CTRL, it’s Roksolana’s job to build web-based applications. Prior to joining Q-CTRL, Roksolana was the Lead Software Engineer at ELEKS, where she helped clients transform their businesses digitally by providing expert software engineering and consultancy services.

Oliver Ye

Back-end Engineer

As a Back-end Engineer, it is Oliver’s job to build and maintain Q-CTRL’s backend server and implement REST API to expose the core data to our clients.

After reading The Three-Body Problem, Oliver quickly developed a strong interest towards emerging technologies and the Quantum Industry. He then completed a dual Bachelor of Commerce and Computer Science at UNSW.

Prior to Q-CTRL, Oliver interned with Medical Director and MediusHealth - where he collaborated with Senior Developers to maintain and implement the backend servers.

Yashar Zolmajdi

Senior Front-end Engineer

As a Senior Front-end Engineer, it’s Yashar’s job to contribute to the development of Q-CTRL’s suite of cutting-edge front-end applications.

With a Master of Information and Communications Technology from Western Sydney University specializing in web and mobile computing, Yashar brings a wealth of experience in both full-stack web and mobile application development and system analysis and design.