Dr. Abhinav Kandala
B.Tech., 2008 Engineering Physics

Dr. Abhinav Kandala is an experimental physicist at the IBM T. J. Watson Research Centre and currently leads the Quantum Capabilities and Demonstrations team, building tools for executing large quantum circuits and exploring beyond-classical quantum computation. After his B.Tech. from IIT Bombay, he received his PhD in Physics from Pennsylvania State University in 2015.

Dr. Kandala’s current research spans the control and coherence of superconducting qubits, multi qubit characterization, and near term applications of quantum computers. His most significant contributions have been towards exploring the computational utility of existing noisy quantum computers. In 2023, he led work that demonstrated that these processors could perform accurate computations at scales beyond brute-force classical computation and was featured on the cover of Nature and also received coverage in the New York Times.

In 2019, he was recognized by MIT Tech Review as one of 35 innovators under 35 for his experiments on error mitigation and molecular simulation with near-term quantum computers.

Special Memories Associated with IIT Bombay

“My time at IIT Bombay was a transformational experience for me and expanded my experience of India. I was fortunate to forge deep bonds with friends from such diverse backgrounds, and geographies, and my WhatsApp groups with them continue to be the most entertaining. My exposure to all the amazing music and musicianship on campus sparked a fire and I continue to be an eager student of Indian Classical music. An unpopular opinion: much to my mother’s disappointment, I enjoyed mess food on most days.”