Quantum Science Researcher Receives Competitive Student Fellowship from UC Noyce
Nathan Gonzalez, a doctoral student studying quantum information science in the College of Engineering at the University of California, Davis, has received a UC Noyce Graduate Student Fellowship.
UC Noyce launched the fellowship program in spring 2026 to support doctoral students working at the forefront of digital innovation in computational health, quantum information science and cybersecurity.
For the first cohort, UC Noyce selected only one student from each of the five campuses that make up the initiative: UC Berkeley, UC Davis, UC Irvine, UC San Francisco and UC Santa Barbara. Each fellow will receive up to $150,000 awarded over two years to support their doctoral research, including stipend, tuition and fees.
The fellowship will directly support Gonzalez’s research to develop scalable quantum technologies capable of simulating the physics of fundamental particles on a compact chip. His approach aims to open the door for research into physics systems that are too complex for current computers to handle.
“A major challenge we face in modern physics is understanding the fundamental building blocks of particle physics, largely because many of the dynamics of interest occur only under very extreme conditions, at very high energies,” he said. “To probe these conditions, we simulate it on classical supercomputers and have built massive particle collider facilities like those at CERN. My project will instead approach this problem via analog quantum simulation, which aims to natively implement the physics of interest in the hardware of our device itself.”
Gonzalez is a physics and astronomy Ph.D. student who works in the R-Lab, led by Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering Marina Radulaski. Under Radulaksi’s guidance, Gonzalez investigates photonic platforms — devices that use light to perform a function, such as a color center — to create next-level quantum technologies.
“Progress in quantum information science requires interdisciplinarity, and Nathan has excelled in working at interfaces of fields at UC Davis, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Berkeley Lab and ETH Zurich,” Radulaski said. “He has worked on projects where quantum information meets integrated photonics and material science, focusing on quantum dot and color center emitters, mastering advanced optical spectroscopy skills, which prepared him to make an impact in photonic quantum simulation.”
In addition to financial support, the UC Noyce Graduate Student Fellowship will create a cross-campus cohort of emerging researchers. Gonzalez and the four other Fellows will participate in workshops and professional development activities that encourage interdisciplinary exchange and collaboration across the five campuses.