Isaac Kim, assistant professor in the Department of Computer Science, has been named as a 2026 Sloan Research Fellow by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Kim is among 126 new fellows announced today (Feb. 17). Fellows receive a two-year, $75,000 award to further their work. 

Kim’s research is in quantum entanglement, a necessary step to developing quantum computers and information systems. 

Quantum entanglement occurs when two or more particles become interdependent on each other — entangled — in such a way that any change in the state of one particle affects the state of the other, even when they are physically separated. 

Add more particles to the mix and things quickly get extremely complicated. No individual particle can be described without changing all the others, making it very difficult to understand the properties of the system. 

Kim is rethinking how to study such many-particle entanglement to build new methods for understanding quantum systems. He has dubbed his research effort the “entanglement bootstrap program.” 

By making it easier to understand quantum systems, Kim’s work could enable development of quantum computers, which can carry out some kinds of calculations much more rapidly than conventional digital computers.