Cliff Sun

I study physics, math, and computer science at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. I am a 2026 Barry M. Goldwater Scholar (~400 selected nationally) and a 2026 Astronaut Scholar (~70 selected nationally).

Broadly speaking, I’m interested in the synergy of quantum hardware and algorithms towards building a quantum computer. I have 4 papers + 1 filed patent (3 first-author papers) on using 1-D superconductors for classical and quantum logic. My work has bridged superconductors to particle physics, connected diodes to broken space and time symmetries, and solved a 20 year problem in the nanowire community.

I also hold a joint research position at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, where I’m working on various quantum software problems. My current interests lie in finding quantum advantages and an efficient quantum circuit scale-up technique.

In the past, I’ve led a NASA competition team designing a hardware-aware, fault tolerant cryogenic propellent transfer strategy for the Artemis Missions. We were invited to present our work to NASA with concepts integrated into the Artemis mission architecture. I also play basketball, listen to music, and watch long youtube videos.

You can reach me at cliffxs2 [at] illinois [dot] edu.