I'm Schlumberger Centennial Chair of Computer Science at The University of Texas at Austin, and director of its Quantum Information Center. My research interests center around the capabilities and limits of quantum computers, and computational complexity theory more generally.

For the 2022-2023 and 2023-2024 academic years, I was on leave to work at OpenAI on the theoretical foundations of AI safety.

Information for Prospective PhD Students: At UT Austin, admissions are strictly through the yearly application process, not through emailing individual faculty members like me. I'm always on the lookout for great students. If you apply for a PhD in CS and specify that you want to work with me, I'll be sure to see your application. (I can also supervise or co-supervise physics students, but in that case I play no role in admissions.) Admissions are extremely competitive, so I urge you to apply broadly to maximize your chances.

Book

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[Kindle edition]

Research

• Papers
• Talks

Miscellaneous

• Blog
• CV
• FAQ
• Old Writings
• Research Statement
• Teaching Statement
• PhD Thesis
• The Complexity Zoo

Lecture Notes

• Introduction to Quantum Information Science (undergraduate, 2016)
• Introduction to Quantum Information Science II (undergraduate, 2022)
• Barbados Notes: The Complexity of Quantum States and Transformations, from Quantum Money to Black Holes (2016)
• Rio de Janeiro notes: Complexity Theory and Quantum Optics (2013)
• Great Ideas in Theoretical Computer Science (undergraduate, 2008)
• Quantum Complexity Theory (graduate, 2008)
• Quantum Computing Since Democritus (graduate, 2006)

Courses

• CS358H Introduction to Quantum Information Science (UT Austin, Fall 2024)
• CS378 Introduction to Quantum Information Science II (UT Austin, Spring 2022)
• CS358H Introduction to Quantum Information Science (UT Austin, Fall 2021)
• CS395T Quantum Complexity Theory (UT Austin, Spring 2021)
• CS358H Introduction to Quantum Information Science (UT Austin, Fall 2020)
• CS378 Introduction to Quantum Information Science (UT Austin, Fall 2019)
• CS395T Quantum Complexity Theory (UT Austin, Spring 2019)
• CS378 Introduction to Quantum Information Science (UT Austin, Fall 2018)
• CS378 Introduction to Quantum Information Science (UT Austin, Spring 2017)
• CS395T Quantum and Classical Complexity Theory (UT Austin, Fall 2016)
• The Complexity of Quantum States and Transformations: From Quantum Money to Black Holes (Bellairs Research Institute, Spring 2016)
• 6.045 Automata, Computability, and Complexity (MIT, Spring 2016)
• 6.S899 Seminar on Computation and Physics (MIT, Fall 2015)
• 6.045 Automata, Computability, and Complexity (videos) (MIT, Spring 2015)
• 6.845 Quantum Complexity Theory (MIT, Fall 2014)
• 6.045 Automata, Computability, and Complexity / GITCS (MIT, Spring 2013)
• 6.845 Quantum Complexity Theory (MIT, Fall 2012)
• 6.045 Automata, Computability, and Complexity / GITCS (MIT, Spring 2012)
• 6.893 Philosophy and Theoretical Computer Science (MIT, Fall 2011)
• 6.045 Automata, Computability, and Complexity / GITCS (MIT, Spring 2011)
• 6.845 Quantum Complexity Theory (MIT, Fall 2010)
• 6.045 Automata, Computability, and Complexity / GITCS (MIT, Spring 2010)
• 6.045 Automata, Computability, and Complexity / GITCS (MIT, Spring 2009)
• 6.896 Quantum Complexity Theory (MIT, Fall 2008)
• 6.089 Great Ideas In Theoretical Computer Science (MIT, Spring 2008)
• Quantum Computing Since Democritus (University of Waterloo, Fall 2006)

Students

• Andrew Drucker: PhD, graduated MIT August 2012, now a professor at the University of Chicago
• Michael Forbes: graduated MIT April 2014, now a professor at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (co-advised with Amir Shpilka)
• Alex Arkhipov: PhD, graduated MIT June 2017, now in industry
• Adam Bouland: PhD, graduated MIT June 2017, now a professor at Stanford
• Shalev Ben-David: PhD, graduated MIT June 2017, now a professor at the University of Waterloo
• Luke Schaeffer: graduated MIT August 2019, now a postdoc at the University of Waterloo
• Saeed Mehraban: graduated MIT June 2019, now a professor at Tufts (co-advised with Aram Harrow)
• Daniel Grier: graduated MIT August 2019, now a professor at UC San Diego
• Patrick Rall: graduated UT Austin November 2021, now at IBM Yorktown Heights
• Daniel Liang: graduated UT Austin May 2023, now a postdoc at Rice
• William Kretschmer: graduated UT Austin May 2023, now a postdoc at Berkeley
• Jiahui Liu: graduated UT Austin May 2023, now a postdoc at MIT
• Justin Yirka: PhD, in progress
• Sabee Grewal: PhD, in progress
• Vishnu Iyer: PhD, in progress
• Jiawei Li: PhD, in progress
• Siddhartha Jain: PhD, in progress
• Ronak Ramachandran: PhD, in progress

Postdocs

• Shih-Han Hung (UT Austin); now a professor at Delft
• Jason Pollack (UT Austin); now a professor at Syracuse
• Andrea Rocchetto (UT Austin)
• Yosi Atia (UT Austin); now a postdoc at UC Berkeley
• Han-Hsuan Lin (UT Austin); now a professor at National Tsing Hua University, Taiwan
• Chunhao Wang (UT Austin); now a professor at Penn State
• Nai-Hui Chia (UT Austin); now a professor at Indiana University Bloomington
• Thomas Wong (UT Austin); now a professor at Creighton University
• Zak Webb (UT Austin)
• Supartha Podder (UT Austin); now a professor at Stony Brook University
• Robin Kothari (MIT): co-advised, now at Microsoft Research
• Alexander Belov (MIT): now at University of Latvia
• Xiaodi Wu (MIT): now a professor at University of Maryland
• Thomas Vidick (MIT): now a professor at Caltech
• Avinatan Hassidim (MIT): co-advised, now a professor at Bar-Ilan University

Contact

The best way to reach me is via email:
bqpqpoly at gmail dot com
aaronson at cs dot utexas dot edu
(Some emails get caught in my spam filter, in which case you might need to resend)

Office: GDC (Gates Dell Complex) 4.422

Administrative assistant phone: (512)-471-9595