Alán Aspuru-Guzik

Alán Aspuru-Guzik
Born (1976-07-04) July 4, 1976
United States
CitizenshipMexico, United States
EducationUniversity of California, Berkeley
National Autonomous University of Mexico
Known forVariational quantum eigensolver, Self-driving Labs
Scientific career
FieldsQuantum chemistry
Quantum computing
InstitutionsUniversity of Toronto
Harvard University
Thesis
Doctoral advisorWilliam A. Lester Jr.
Other academic advisorsMartin Head-Gordon
Websitematter.toronto.edu

Alán Aspuru-Guzik is a professor of chemistry, computer science, chemical engineering and materials science at the University of Toronto.[1] He is also Senior Director of Quantum Chemistry, NVIDIA.[2] His research group, the matter lab, studies quantum chemistry, AI for chemical and materials discovery, quantum computing and self-driving chemical.[3] He is the co-founder of Kebotix, a company focused on automated chemical and material discovery.[4] He previously cofounded Zapata Computing, which temporarily closed in 2024,[5] and has since been undergoing restructuring.[6]

Early life

Aspuru-Guzik was raised in Mexico City, Mexico.[7] When he was in junior high, he represented Mexico at the International Chemistry Olympiad, after which his passion for science, particularly chemistry, grew.[8]

Aspuru-Guzik had obtained his Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry from the National Autonomous University of Mexico in 1999.[9] In 2004, he was awarded a Ph.D. in physical chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley.[10] He continued at Berkeley as a postdoctoral fellow between 2005 and 2006, working with Martin Head-Gordon.

Career

From 2006 to 2010, Aspuru-Guzik was an assistant professor at Harvard University, before becoming associate professor in 2010, and professor in 2013.[11] In 2018, Professor Aspuru-Guzik moved to the University of Toronto as a Canada 150 Research Chair.[7][12]

From 2012 to 2014, Aspuru-Guzik had worked with Michael Aziz and Roy Gordon with funding from the United States Department of Energy to develop grid-scale, metal-free flow batteries.[13] In 2016, Aspuru-Guzik had worked with Ryan Babbush, a quantum engineer at Google to develop a new algorithm for a quantum computer which will be able to detect various molecules, such as cholesterol.[14] Generalizing such research efforts, he has substantially contributed to developing ideas of hybrid quantum classical algorithms.[15]

Since 2018, he has given lectures at the Information Science and Technology Center, Colorado State University,[16] Williams College,[17] and the College of New Jersey.[18]

Business Endeavors and Zapata Computing Closure

Aspuru-Guzik co-founded Zapata Computing, a company initially positioned as a pioneer in quantum computing solutions for various industries.[19] The company aimed to leverage quantum machine learning to accelerate the discovery of new materials and optimize complex tasks, such as predicting car race outcomes and enhancing aerodynamic design for energy efficiency in sectors like aviation and automotive.[20] In 2023, Zapata Computing went public via a special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) merger, listing on Nasdaq. In October 2024, Zapata announced it would cease operations.[21] In September 2025, Zapata returned as Zapata Quantum after a strategic restructuring, with a renewed focus on hardware-agnostic quantum software.[22]

Publications record

According to Google Scholar, as of September 2025, Aspuru-Guzik has more than 100,000 citations and a H-index of 139 along with a I10-index of 488. Some of his most highly cited papers are:

  • Duvenaud, David K; Maclaurin, Dougal; Iparraguirre, Jorge; Bombarell, Rafael; Hirzel, Timothy; Aspuru-Guzik, Alan; Adams, Ryan P (2015). "Convolutional Networks on Graphs for Learning Molecular Fingerprints". Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems. 28.[23]
  • Peruzzo, Alberto; McClean, Jarrod; Shadbolt, Peter; Yung, Man-Hong; Zhou, Xiao-Qi; Love, Peter J.; Aspuru-Guzik, Alán; O'Brien, Jeremy L. (2014-07-23). "A variational eigenvalue solver on a photonic quantum processor". Nature Communications. 5 (1): 4213.[24]
  • Gómez-Bombarelli, Rafael; Wei, Jennifer N.; Duvenaud, David; Hernández-Lobato, José Miguel; Sánchez-Lengeling, Benjamín; Sheberla, Dennis; Aguilera-Iparraguirre, Jorge; Hirzel, Timothy D.; Adams, Ryan P.; Aspuru-Guzik, Alán (2018-02-28). "Automatic Chemical Design Using a Data-Driven Continuous Representation of Molecules". ACS Central Science. 4 (2): 268–276.[25]

Honors and awards

Aspuru-Guzik is a 2009 Sloan Research Fellow, 2011 Big Think Delphi Fellow,[26] 2012 Elected Fellow of the American Physical Society,[27] 2015 Senior Fellow of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR),[28] and a 2017 Elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).[29] He was also 2017–2018 Invited Member of the World Economic Forum's Global Future Council on Advanced Materials and 2018 the Phi Beta Kappa society Visiting Scholar[30]

In 2010 he was listed as Young Innovator Under 35 by the MIT Technology Review.[31]

He has been recipient of several awards including:

Political views

In 2018, Professor Aspuru-Guzik, concerned about the United States' political climate and the fallout from the 2016 United States presidential election, decided to leave his position at Harvard University.[36] He described the situation as a "free-for-all" and likened it to warfare between different political parties. This discomfort led him to consider opportunities abroad in countries like Australia, Europe, and Canada. Eventually, he chose to join the University of Toronto, finding it particularly appealing due to its diverse population, progressive legislation related to human rights, the environment, and immigration.

References

  1. ^ "Alán Aspuru-Guzik". www.chemistry.utoronto.ca. January 23, 2019. Retrieved March 31, 2023.
  2. ^ "Alán Aspuru-Guzik | Research".
  3. ^ "Research". www.matter.toronto.edu. Retrieved March 31, 2023.
  4. ^ "A robot scientist will dream up new materials to advance computing and fight pollution". MIT Technology Review. Retrieved December 13, 2024.
  5. ^ "Zapata Computing Holdings Inc. Ceases Operations". October 12, 2024.
  6. ^ "Zapata Quantum Completes First Phase of Strategic Restructure". September 4, 2025.
  7. ^ a b Haves, Dan (March 29, 2018). "Professor Alán Aspuru-Guzik joins Chemistry as Canada 150 Research Chair". University of Toronto. Archived from the original on April 20, 2019. Retrieved May 21, 2019.
  8. ^ Neil Savage (2015). "A Conversation With Alán Aspuru-Guzik". Chemical & Engineering News. 93 (25): 39. doi:10.1021/cen-09325-scitech2.
  9. ^ "Section of Chemistry". Uppsala University. Retrieved October 23, 2019.
  10. ^ "Developing computer programs for simulating molecules exactly using quantum computers". Benefunder. Retrieved October 23, 2019.
  11. ^ "Alán Aspuru-Guzik". Archived from the original on October 21, 2019. Retrieved October 23, 2019.
  12. ^ Amy L. Jia and Sanjana L. Narayanan (March 30, 2018). "Chemistry Professor Aspuru-Guzik to Leave Harvard". The Harvard Crimson. Retrieved October 23, 2019.
  13. ^ Karoff, Paul (January 8, 2014). "Battery offers renewable energy breakthrough". Harvard Gazette. Retrieved October 23, 2019.
  14. ^ Reuell, Peter (August 4, 2016). "New way to model molecules". Harvard Gazette. Retrieved October 23, 2019.
  15. ^ Jarrod R. McClean, Jonathan Romero, Ryan Babbush, Alán Aspuru-Guzik (2016). "The theory of variational hybrid quantum-classical algorithms". New Journal of Physics. 18 (2) 023023. arXiv:1509.04279. Bibcode:2016NJPh...18b3023M. doi:10.1088/1367-2630/18/2/023023. S2CID 92988541.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  16. ^ "Alán Aspuru-Guzik" (PDF). Colorado State University. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 8, 2015. Retrieved October 23, 2019.
  17. ^ "Williams College to Present a Lecture on the Development of Quantum Computing". Williams College. Retrieved October 23, 2019.
  18. ^ "Phi Beta Kappa visiting scholar Alán Aspuru-Guzik on the future of computer simulation of matter, Oct. 1–2". The College of New Jersey. September 27, 2018. Retrieved October 23, 2019.
  19. ^ "Zapata Co-Founder". Zapata AI.
  20. ^ "Zapata Chief Says Quantum Machine Learning Is a When, Not an If". July 16, 2020.
  21. ^ "Zapata Computing Holdings Inc. has Ceased Business Operations".
  22. ^ Swayne, Matt (September 3, 2025). "Viva Zapata -- Zapata Quantum Reemerges After Bankruptcy Filing With Restructuring and New Financing". The Quantum Insider. Retrieved November 25, 2025.
  23. ^ Duvenaud, David K; Maclaurin, Dougal; Iparraguirre, Jorge; Bombarell, Rafael; Hirzel, Timothy; Aspuru-Guzik, Alan; Adams, Ryan P (2015). "Convolutional Networks on Graphs for Learning Molecular Fingerprints". Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems. 28. Curran Associates, Inc. arXiv:1509.09292.
  24. ^ Peruzzo, Alberto; McClean, Jarrod; Shadbolt, Peter; Yung, Man-Hong; Zhou, Xiao-Qi; Love, Peter J.; Aspuru-Guzik, Alán; O'Brien, Jeremy L. (July 23, 2014). "A variational eigenvalue solver on a photonic quantum processor". Nature Communications. 5 (1): 4213. arXiv:1304.3061. Bibcode:2014NatCo...5.4213P. doi:10.1038/ncomms5213. ISSN 2041-1723. PMC 4124861. PMID 25055053.
  25. ^ Gómez-Bombarelli, Rafael; Wei, Jennifer N.; Duvenaud, David; Hernández-Lobato, José Miguel; Sánchez-Lengeling, Benjamín; Sheberla, Dennis; Aguilera-Iparraguirre, Jorge; Hirzel, Timothy D.; Adams, Ryan P.; Aspuru-Guzik, Alán (February 28, 2018). "Automatic Chemical Design Using a Data-Driven Continuous Representation of Molecules". ACS Central Science. 4 (2): 268–276. doi:10.1021/acscentsci.7b00572. ISSN 2374-7943. PMC 5833007. PMID 29532027.
  26. ^ "Alan Aspuru-Guzik". runner. Archived from the original on July 6, 2019. Retrieved October 23, 2019.
  27. ^ "New U.S. National Security Faculty Fellows Announced". American Physical Society. July 28, 2015. Retrieved October 23, 2019.
  28. ^ "Alán Aspuru-Guzik". CIFAR. Retrieved October 23, 2019.
  29. ^ "Alan Aspuru-Guzik named a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science". Harvard University. November 20, 2017. Retrieved October 23, 2019.
  30. ^ "Alán Aspuru-Guzik". PBK. Retrieved October 23, 2019.
  31. ^ "Innovator Under 35: Alán Aspuru-Guzik, 34". MIT Technology Review. Archived from the original on April 1, 2019. Retrieved October 23, 2019.
  32. ^ Pratt, Mary K. (August 26, 2013). "Data+ Awards: Harvard's Clean Energy Project gets a massive speed boost". Computerworld. Retrieved October 23, 2019.
  33. ^ Kuismin, Victor. "Former lecturers – Section of Chemistry – Uppsala University, Sweden". www.kemi.uu.se. Archived from the original on July 6, 2019. Retrieved October 23, 2019.
  34. ^ "Intel's 2023 Outstanding Researcher Awards". Intel. Retrieved December 13, 2024.
  35. ^ Science, Department of Computer (September 4, 2025). "Alán Aspuru-Guzik named Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada". Department of Computer Science, University of Toronto. Retrieved September 9, 2025.
  36. ^ "Chemistry Professor Aspuru-Guzik to Leave Harvard | News | The Harvard Crimson". www.thecrimson.com. Retrieved March 31, 2023.
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