Jacob Taylor (Fed)

Jake Taylor is a NIST Fellow, a Fellow of the Joint Quantum Institute (JQI), and co-founder and Fellow of the Joint Center for Quantum Information and Computer Science (QuICS). He served from 2017-2020 as the first Assistant Director for Quantum Information Science at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), and founded and led the National Quantum Coordination Office (quantum.gov) from 2019-2020.

Fascinated with astrophysics as an undergraduate, Taylor began his research career examining rarified gases and stellar clusters. A one-year position as a Luce Scholar introduced him to special-purpose computing, and in graduate school he returned to Harvard to focus on quantum computing. After receiving his PhD in physics, he moved to MIT as a Pappalardo Fellow, before starting his research group at NIST, and joining the JQI, in 2009. Five years later, he co-founded QuICS --- a joint governmental-academic effort --- to connect computer scientists and physicists working on quantum coherent devices. From 2017-2020, he was detailed to OSTP to help guide the Nation’s effort to advance American leadership in quantum information science. His efforts there helped enable the passage and implementation of the National Quantum Initiative, including standing up and directing the National Quantum Coordination Office, in additional to advancing the future of high performance computing by developing the National Strategic Computing Initiative’s 2020 strategic plan and through the co-creation of the COVID-19 HPC Computing Consortium. A Fellow of the American Physical Society and the Optical Society of America, Taylor is also the recipient of the Department of Commerce Gold and Silver Medals, the IUPAP C15 Young Scientist Award, the Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medal: Call to Service, the Presidential Early Career Award for Science and Engineering, and the Newcomb Cleveland prize of the AAAS.