Dr. K. Birgitta Whaley stands as a preeminent scholar at the forefront of quantum information science with a distinguished career spanning chemistry, physics, and biology. She currently serves as Professor of Chemistry and Director of the Berkeley Quantum Information and Computation Center at the University of California, Berkeley, while also holding a senior faculty scientist position in the Division of Chemical Sciences at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. After earning her PhD from the University of Chicago, Whaley conducted postdoctoral research at Hebrew University Jerusalem and Tel Aviv University, establishing the foundation for her interdisciplinary work at the intersection of multiple scientific disciplines. Her leadership extends to the Kavli Energy Nanosciences Institute and the Center for Quantum Coherent Science, where she shapes the direction of quantum research across campus.
Whaley's pioneering research has fundamentally transformed quantum information science through her discovery of decoherence free subspaces, which proved essential for practical quantum computation and simulation by protecting quantum information from environmental noise. Her theoretical work demonstrating that quantum random walks can generate general quantum algorithms has provided critical frameworks for computational approaches across the field, while her contributions to quantum biology established the presence of quantum entanglement in photosynthetic light harvesting systems and determined the precise conditions under which coherent quantum dynamics enhance biological function. Her early work elucidating the spectroscopy of molecules in superfluid helium provided the first microscopic understanding of nanoscale superfluidity, demonstrating her consistent ability to bridge theoretical concepts with experimental phenomena. These contributions collectively address fundamental questions about quantum coherence in complex environments and have enabled significant advances in quantum information processing technologies.
As a recognized leader in the quantum science community, Whaley served as a member of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) from October 2019 to January 2021, highlighting the national significance of her expertise in quantum information sciences. Her editorial leadership spans multiple prestigious journals including Quantum Information Processing and European Physical Journal Quantum Technology, where she has shaped scholarly discourse across disciplines for over fifteen years. Whaley's current research explores quantum feedback control, algorithms for near term quantum computation, and the persistent question of how quantum phenomena manifest in biological contexts, work that promises to deepen our understanding of quantum mechanics while advancing practical quantum technologies. Her commitment to scientific excellence and interdisciplinary collaboration continues to position her laboratory at the vanguard of quantum science, training the next generation of researchers who will push the boundaries of quantum information and its applications across scientific domains.
