UC Merced graduate students Anuvetha Govindarajan and Jocelyn Ornelas-Munoz have each received a $25,000 fellowship from SandboxAQ, which creates solutions at the nexus of artificial intelligence and quantum technology — or AQ — to address some of the world's greatest challenges.
For the past six years, SandboxAQ has been forming connections between industry and academia to meet the rising demand for quantum- and AI-trained researchers and engineers. According to the company’s website, it has partnered “with over 30 corporations, major universities and other educational institutions to build up a pool of tech talent and expand training in the field of artificial intelligence and quantum technologies.”
“SandboxAQ congratulates Anuvetha Govindarajan and Jocelyn Ornelas-Munoz on being named SandboxAQ Fellowship recipients. We look forward to following their research at UC Merced and supporting their future careers in quantum information science,” said Marianna Bonanome, head of External Education Programs at SandboxAQ. “SandboxAQ values collaborations with universities like UC Merced, with whom we partner to create engaging educational opportunities, increase interest and diversity in STEM education and careers, and expand the global quantum workforce.”
Govindarajan, a physics Ph.D. student from India, studies quantum optics and quantum computing with Professor Lin Tian. She has built a unique design to generate many-body entangled states — a system of many interacting particles — in optomechanical systems, which are robust against temperature and noise fluctuations.
“I am honored to receive the prestigious SandboxAQ fellowship. It is one of the few fellowships that international students are eligible to participate in,” Govindarajan said. “This fellowship will help me dedicate more time and resources to my research.”
She is working on quantum optimal control to study state-preparation in a finite-sized Jaynes-Cummings model lattice.
After graduation, she plans to seek opportunities in industry where she can transfer the skills she has developed at UC Merced as a physics researcher.
Ornelas-Munoz, an applied mathematics Ph.D. student from México, is researching the realm of deep learning (DL) with a primary focus on implementing constrained optimization techniques to regularize DL models. She is co-advised by professors Erica Rutter and Roummel Marcia.
Specifically, Ornelas-Munoz’s objective is to narrow down the space of potential mappings from which the DL model learns. This involves a comprehensive exploration of mathematical constrained optimization, allowing her to seamlessly integrate physical and biological constraints into deep-learning models.
Her research contributions have found practical applications in diverse fields such as genomics, coded aperture imaging and medical imaging.
“Being awarded the SandboxAQ fellowship is a pivotal opportunity that allows me to fully immerse myself in an extended exploration of my research during the upcoming semester,” she said. “This fellowship is instrumental in enabling me to further advance my expertise in computer vision, deep learning and mathematical optimization, thereby facilitating substantial progress toward completing my dissertation.”
The fellowship will help Ornelas-Munoz expand her knowledge base and actively contribute to the academic discourse by submitting her work for publication. Additionally, she will participate in conferences later this year to share and discuss her research findings.
She plans to join a Department of Energy national laboratory or a similar federally funded research and development center after graduation.
“My goal is to contribute as a scientist, allowing me to persist in my passion for research while staying abreast of the latest developments in deep learning,” Ornelas-Munoz said. “My ultimate career goal is to actively engage in impactful research that not only expands the frontiers of knowledge in applied mathematics and deep learning but also translates into practical applications for the betterment of the broader population.”
SandboxAQ congratulates Anuvetha Govindarajan and Jocelyn Ornelas-Munoz on being named SandboxAQ Fellowship recipients. We look forward to following their research at UC Merced and supporting their future careers in quantum information science.
