Murphy Niu
Assistant Professor
Stansbury Chair in Computer Science
murphyniu@ucsb.edu
2013 Henley Hall
Google Scholar
Education
Ph.D., Physics, MIT
B.A., Physics, Peking University
Off-Campus Affiliations
Adjunct Assistant Professor in the University of Maryland, College Park, and the University of Maryland Institute for Advanced Computer Studies
Research Areas
Algorithms and Theory
Computer Architecture
Machine Learning and Data Mining
Quantum Computing
Bio

Murphy Yuezhen Niu is an Assistant Professor and Stansbury Chair in Computer Science at the University of California, Santa Barbara since 2024. Previously, she was a senior research scientist in the Google Quantum AI team, where her work focused on intelligent quantum control optimization and metrology, quantum machine learning, quantum algorithm design and near-term quantum error correction. Niu received her doctorate in theoretical and mathematical physics from MIT in 2018. She received the Claude E. Shannon Research Assistantship for her work at the intersection of photonic quantum computation, quantum error correction and quantum cryptography.

 

Research

Professor Niu's long-term research goal is to develop quantum computing paradigms in regard to how we program, control, characterize, measure, and error correct a large-scale quantum computer without paying the steep price of digitization towards real-world impacts. Niu applies cutting-edge deep reinforcement learning and generative models to quantum control, quantum circuit compilation, and quantum system learning using some of the largest quantum computers based on superconducting qubits. Her recent research focus on developing scalable analog quantum control and algorithms for emerging quantum architectures with superconducting, ion trap, photonic, and neutral atom qubits. Visit Niu’s academic publications on Google Scholar here.