So many people have helped shape me into the scientist and person that I am today, that it is a hopeless prospect to thank them all here. But I will begin by thanking the people who started it all off, and have continued tirelessly supporting me through today: my parents. The ways I owe a debt of gratitude to them are innumerable; here I will try to list at least some that are directly relevant to my academic life. I thank my mom for showing me the wonder of the natural world, whether in opening insect galls to look at the larvae inside, or examining the traces of Vermont’s natural history in ammonite fossils. I also thank her for teaching me that while academics are important, skipping school can be just as important (especially when there’s 8 inches of fresh snow on the ski slopes). I thank my dad for teaching me how to solder, and more generally to build things whether electronic or not—and for the lesson that many things can be fixed or even made into something better if you understand how they work (and sometimes, even if you don’t!). I also thank him for installing Linux on a desktop that was going to be thrown away and leaving it in my room when I was a kid, which kicked off a lifelong journey of fiddling with computers. To both my parents, I extend my thanks for expressing their pride in my accomplishments, but making sure I never got too proud of myself. It is hard to put in words how fortunate and privileged I feel for the opportunities I had growing up, and throughout my life to the present day.
On the topic of family, I would also like to thank my older sister Kate, for being someone I can always call for any reason—whether to talk through any problem, or just to play zombie video games over the internet. You have been an amazing role model my whole life. When we were kids you forged your way through each level of school and taught me invaluable lessons that helped me succeed there a year later (although I still somehow got slightly worse grades than you). As an adult you have shown me that it is possible to materially improve the world while doing the things you love. I feel so fortunate to have a sibling who is also a best friend.
On the academic side, I have to thank the many people who have supported me throughout my (many) years of school. From my time working at CERN as an undergraduate, I thank Till Eifert and Ben Nachman for teaching me a wide array of things, paramount of which was how to think like a scientist. I also appreciate them for staying patient with me when I hadn’t quite figured science out yet (and when I broke the entire SLAC supercomputer cluster). I also owe many thanks to my fellow student researchers and dear friends Will DeRocco and Field Rogers, for our many adventures scientific and otherwise, and for taking care of me and helping me make (reasonably) good decisions before my frontal lobe was fully formed. I am so glad we somewhat spontaneously decided to live together that summer; it began a friendship I will cherish and care for always. I am excited to finally join you two as a PhD in Physics, and always appreciate your insights into the crazy journey of academia (and life). Will, I have you specifically to thank for making a somewhat offhand comment our third year of college: “You really like quantum mechanics and computers—have you ever considered studying quantum computing?” You probably didn’t realize the direct role you played in this dissertation’s existence!
On that topic, I would like to thank Prof. Liang Jiang, my first advisor in quantum computing, and (now Prof.) Stefan Krastanov, at the time a graduate student, with whom I worked closely. You two showed me the joy of theory research, and always had faith in me despite my considerable lack of background knowledge as an undergraduate. You also showed me that a lot of scientific progress can be made by essentially just hanging out, goofing around, and throwing around ideas. The fun I had working on quantum computing with you was one of my main motivations for pursuing a PhD. Liang, I also want to thank you for introducing me to the person who ultimately would become my PhD advisor (and for nudging him to respond when he didn’t get back to my first email!).
That person was Prof. Norman Yao, who has guided and supported me endlessly through the extraordinary journey that is a PhD. Norm, your genuine joy and excitement in doing physics is infectious. Among the many, many lessons you taught me over the past six years, one that stands out the most is that science is a social, collaborative pursuit as much as a technical one. It is almost comical how frequently I introduce myself to someone new and hear, “Oh, you work with Norm Yao? He’s an old friend.” Early in my time working with you, I somewhat tentatively suggested publishing as open source the software package that ultimately became dynamite (Chapter 2 of this dissertation), so that everyone in our field could use it. At the time I didn’t know you as well, and I wasn’t sure how you would react to giving away this tool to the “competition.” Your response was one of near incredulity—at the prospect of not sharing it with the community! Working on other projects in later years, whenever we got any hint that another research group was working on something similar to us, your first instinct was always to start a collaboration with them, rather than to compete. That attitude led to a research experience that was both more productive, and much more fun.
Norm, I also deeply appreciate you taking my “picky” research tastes in stride. A year or two into graduate school, I walked into your office feeling very nervous, to tell you that I simply was not enjoying the projects I was working on at the time, and that I wanted to change my research direction dramatically. You told me that even though you weren’t an expert (yet) in what I wanted to study, you were more than happy to embark on that journey with me, and that we could learn together along the way. I walked out of your office with all my anxieties melted away. I think that level of flexibility is quite rare among academic advisors, and I certainly do not take it for granted. Finally, I want to thank you for your support in all forms throughout all these years. Whenever I have a question, sometimes about physics but even more frequently about how to navigate academic life, you have been always been an invaluable help. I look forward to continuing to stay in touch, and I am certain that our scientific collaboration will continue (and not just because we need to publish these papers!). I’ll make sure to visit whenever I’m in town.
There are a number of other people at UC Berkeley to whom I owe thanks as well. I thank Prof. Umesh Vazirani and Prof. Joel Moore for serving on my dissertation committee, as well as Prof. Hartmut Häffner for serving on my qualifying examination committee. More broadly, I thank these professors for interesting chats over lunch or at department events. I thank Umesh in particular for welcoming me into the theoretical computer science community at Berkeley, and for always having a keen scientific insight or interesting story to share.
I also thank my fellow graduate students at Berkeley for being the ones that truly have made the physics department into a community instead of just a place of work. So many of you work tirelessly to make this institution more equitable and just in the face of an academic culture that sometimes feels like it has infinite inertia, not to mention impenetrable bureaucracy. To all the members of UAW 2865, it was an honor to go on strike with you and fight for a contract that will help make graduate school at the University of California more accessible to everyone, not just those with outside financial and other support. Solidarity forever. To all my friends in IGenSpectrum, it has been a joy creating community together, and I am very thankful to know each of you beautiful people. Keep being your true selves and please keep in touch. To everyone in the Yao lab, thanks for being great colleagues and friends, and teaching me all kinds of interesting things, about physics but also about the world.
Finally, I thank my spouse, Sara Kahanamoku-Meyer. I honestly don’t know where, or even who, I would be without you. I learn new things from you every day, and after over 10 years it is really starting to add up. (Imagine where I will be after several more decades of spending time with you!) Graduate school was very hard for both of us, but figuring it out together made the worst parts manageable, and the rest a joy. Whether you were giving me (or, that one time, Norm) advice about statistical methods, or taking care of our dog during the long days of writing this dissertation, or bringing me and our picnic blanket to the Berkeley Marina to drink wine and look at the Bay, you truly got me through this PhD. You are an amazing scientist, but more importantly than that, you give your whole self to the work of applying your immense knowledge and skills to better the communities you come from. I can’t wait to see what you accomplish next, and am excited to continue the journey with you.