Incoming PhD Student Pranav Gokhale Awarded NDSEG Fellowship

Pranav Gokhale, an incoming PhD student in the Department of Computer Science, has been awarded a National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate (NDSEG) fellowship. The fellowship is administered by the Department of Defense, with the goal of increasing the number and quality of the nation’s scientists and engineers in areas of DoD interest. As a recipient of the fellowship, Pranav receives 4 years of funding, sponsored by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research. The NDSEG fellowship is highly selective, with over 3,500 applicants for 150 awards this year.

Pranav will join UChicago in the fall. Pranav’s research interest is in quantum computer architecture, and he will be advised by Professor Fred Chong. He graduated magna cum laude from Princeton University in 2015 with a major in computer science and a minor in physics. Since graduation, he has been working as a full-stack product engineer at Quora, the online Q&A community. In his spare time, Pranav enjoys rock climbing, squash, guitar, and astronomy.

Pranav’s proposed area of research is in quantum computer architecture. Progress in both physical implementations of quantum bits and in quantum algorithms have demonstrated promise for a new class of machines with the ability to solve computationally difficult problems. Pranav’s research will focus on the development of architectures and software that will bridge the gap between physical implementations of quantum bits and the more ideal quantum machines assumed by quantum algorithms. The goal of this research is to accelerate the realization of useful quantum computers within the next few years.

Pranav is also a recipient of the Eckhardt fellowship, awarded to exceptional doctoral students in the Physical Sciences Division.