The Gagliardi Group is pleased to welcome Ming-Hsiu Hsieh and Ankit Mathanker as new postdoctoral scholars, and Masari Watanabe as a visiting researcher. We are excited to have them join our research community and look forward to the perspectives and expertise they will bring to our work at the intersection of computational chemistry, quantum science, materials modeling, and emerging computational methods. We are also grateful to them for bringing wonderful treats from Taiwan and Japan to share with the group.
Ming-Hsiu Hsieh joins the Gagliardi Group as a postdoctoral scholar after completing his Ph.D. in Theoretical Chemistry at Northwestern University, where he worked with Prof. Roel Tempelaar. He previously earned a Ph.D. in Computational Chemistry from National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University in Taiwan.
Ming-Hsiu’s research focuses on emerging quantum phenomena at the interface of quantum and classical mechanics. His interests include quantum dynamics, light–matter interactions, and reaction mechanisms, with a particular emphasis on developing efficient and accurate methods for simulating realistic experimental settings. His interdisciplinary background in theoretical and computational chemistry, quantum electrodynamics, and nanoscience will bring valuable new perspectives to the group.
Ankit Mathanker joins the Gagliardi Group as a postdoctoral scholar following the completion of his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering and Scientific Computing at the University of Michigan. His research brings together atomistic modeling, reaction kinetics, scientific machine learning, and artificial intelligence for applications in materials science, energy, catalysis, and sustainability.
Ankit has worked extensively with density functional theory, molecular dynamics, machine-learning interatomic potentials, and high-throughput computational workflows. His recent research includes modeling metal–electrolyte interfaces using machine-learning potentials and developing agentic AI approaches for autonomous transition-state discovery in quantum chemistry. His combination of computational chemistry, materials modeling, and emerging AI methodologies will complement and expand the research directions of the group.
Masari Watanabe will join the Gagliardi Group as a visiting researcher for 10 days. Masari is currently a researcher at the University of Tokyo and Quemix in Japan, where his work focuses on quantum computing and computational approaches to quantum many-body and materials problems.
His research interests include quantum algorithms for initial-state preparation, hybrid quantum–classical simulations combining quantum circuits with tensor-network methods, and downfolding and embedding approaches for constructing effective Hamiltonians in strongly correlated systems. He also has extensive experience in computational materials modeling and the study of disordered and amorphous materials. We look forward to the opportunity to exchange ideas and explore connections between his work in quantum computing and many-body physics and the research of the Gagliardi Group.
We are delighted to welcome Ming-Hsiu, Ankit, and Masari to the group and look forward to their contributions and collaborations in the months ahead.