Postdoc Uma Girish Receives 2025 Boeing Quantum Creators Prize

She is one of twelve early-career quantum researchers awarded for their work that moves the field of quantum information science and engineering in new directions

September 29, 2025

Congratulations to Uma Girish! Girish is one of twelve early-career quantum researchers who have been awarded the 2025 Boeing Quantum Creators Prize, which recognizes promising researchers whose work contributes new ideas to a fast-growing field that has the potential to revolutionize technology and society.

Girish is currently a postdoctoral research scientist working with Henry Yuen, Srivani Family Associate Professor of Computer Science at Columbia. 

Her research focuses on the interplay between quantum computing, complexity theory, and the analysis of Boolean functions and tackles foundational questions, such as: When do quantum algorithms achieve significant speedups over their classical counterparts, and to what extent? And how do different models of quantum computation compare with each other?

 The Prize winners will receive a trophy and $3,500 monetary prize, as well as the opportunity to present their work at this year’s Chicago Quantum Summit on November 3 and 4.

Girish will be an Assistant Professor of Computer Science at the University of Toronto next Fall.