Professor Christopher Monroe Named 2019 Highly Cited Researcher

Bice Zorn Professor of Physics, Christopher Monroe, has been named a 2019 Highly Cited Researcher by Web of Science. Monroe, who is a Distinguished University Professor and Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, is a leading researcher in atomic physics and quantum information science. He is a fellow of the Joint Quantum Institute (JQI), the Joint Center for Quantum Information and Computer Science (QuICS), and the Quantum Technology Center (QTC).

Early in his career, Monroe led the team that demonstrated the first quantum logic gate in any physical platform. Later he pioneered the use of photons to couple quantum information between atoms and demonstrated the first electromagnetic atom trap integrated on a semiconductor chip. Since 2007, his group has pioneered the use of individual atoms for quantum simulations of many-body models related to quantum magnetism. More recently he has proposed and made the first steps toward a scalable, reconfigurable, and modular quantum computer. In 2016, he co-founded the startup company IonQ, which makes high performance quantum computers and has raised $80 million in venture capital.

Monroe received the Willis E. Lamb Award for Laser Science and Quantum Optics, a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, and the American Physical Society Arthur Schawlow Prize for Laser Science. He is a fellow of the American Physical Society, the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the Institute of Physics. In 2016, he was elected to the National Academy of Sciences.

Monroe joined the University of Maryland in 2007. He earned his B.S. in physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1987 and his Ph.D. in physics from the University of Colorado in 1992.

The Highly Cited Researchers list features more than 6,200 authors—some 3,700 in specific fields and about 2,500 across fields—in 21 science and social science disciplines. The scientists’ published work in their specialty areas or across multiple areas has consistently been judged by their peers to be of particular use and significance. These researchers earned the distinction by writing the greatest numbers of reports officially designated by Essential Science Indicators (ESI) as Highly Cited Papers—ranking among the top 1 percent most cited for their subject field or across multiple fields and year of publication. The 2019 Highly Cited Researchers list is drawn from data contained in the ESI spanning 2008-2018.

The Highly Cited Researchers list is one of several criteria used by the Center for World-Class Universities at Shanghai Jiao Tong University to determine the Academic Ranking of World Universities.

Published November 20, 2019