Bio
Zachary W. Windom earned his Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from the University of Florida in May 2024. As a member of the Quantum Theory Project, his doctoral work focused on the theoretical development and implementation of novel coupled-cluster and many-body perturbation theories, with an emphasis on achieving thermochemically accurate yet computationally tractable electronic structure methods for atoms, molecules, and solids.
His current research is multifaceted and broadly focuses on two areas—algorithmic tractability/fidelity and software development—both in the context of near-term quantum computers. To this end, his work seeks to develop and deploy systematic improvements to existing wavefunction ansätze in pursuit of computationally expedient yet accurate simulation of novel phenomena, both quantum chemical and otherwise. An ongoing interest of his involves the development of new theoretical approaches that synergize with established computational paradigms to affordably and accurately solve the electronic Schrödinger equation, with particular emphasis on unitary coupled-cluster theory and its possible approximations. As a contributing member of the Quantum Science Center (QSC), he is also involved in developing software for hybrid quantum–classical computing workflows designed to maximally exploit available high-performance computing resources.