David Awschalom, Liew Family Professor of Molecular Engineering, University of Chicago | Director, Chicago Quantum Institute | Founding Director, Chicago Quantum Exchange
David Awschalom has spent decades working on a problem that now sits near the center of the global technology race: how to control quantum systems well enough to make them useful.
Long before quantum became a major focus for governments, investors and technology companies, David Awschalom was helping establish the foundations of spintronics and quantum information engineering. His research explores the behavior and control of electrons, nuclei and photons in semiconductors and molecules, with applications across quantum computing, communications and sensing.
His career has also bridged some of the institutions that helped shape modern technology research. Awschalom worked at IBM’s Watson Research Center before joining the University of California, Santa Barbara, and later moving to the University of Chicago. Today, he is the Liew Family Professor of Molecular Engineering, Director of the Chicago Quantum Institute, a Senior Scientist at Argonne National Laboratory and Founding Director of the Chicago Quantum Exchange.
His influence extends well beyond his own laboratory.
David Awschalom helped build the Chicago Quantum Exchange into a major network connecting universities, national laboratories and industry around quantum science and commercialization. He was also the inaugural director of Q-NEXT, one of the U.S. Department of Energy’s national Quantum Information Science Research Centers, and now serves as its Chief Science Officer.
The Distinction
David Awschalom belongs to a relatively small group of scientists who have helped shape both the science of quantum technology and the institutions being built around it.
His work has earned some of the field’s major honors, including the American Physical Society’s Oliver E. Buckley Prize and Julius Edgar Lilienfeld Prize. He is also a member of both the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and National Academy of Engineering.
That combination matters. Scientific breakthroughs do not automatically become industries. They require research infrastructure, talent, partnerships and institutions capable of carrying discoveries beyond individual laboratories.
David Awschalom has helped build both sides.
The Bigger Signal
The evolution of Awschalom’s career mirrors the evolution of quantum itself.
What began largely as fundamental physics has expanded into an emerging technology ecosystem involving universities, national laboratories, startups, major corporations and governments.
Awschalom has been part of that transition from the beginning — not only advancing the underlying science, but also helping create the collaborative infrastructure needed to move it forward.
His significance therefore goes beyond any individual discovery.
He represents a generation of scientists that helped move quantum from a largely academic field toward today’s broader technology ecosystem.
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