PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Erik Lucero

Also known as Erik A. Lucero

Erik Lucero is a quantum researcher at Google whose work now applies reinforcement learning to quantum error correction. He earned degrees in electrical engineering and applied physics at CU Denver and a physics PhD at UCSB, then joined Google in 2015. His work includes a 2012 Shor's algorithm demonstration, Sycamore circuit sampling, below-threshold surface codes, and lattice-gauge simulations; he received CU Denver's College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Distinguished Alumni Award in 2023. In July 2026, he coauthored a Nature paper on reinforcement-learning control of quantum error correction. As of October 2026, he is a Staff Research Scientist on Google's Quantum AI team and its lead quantum engineer in Santa Barbara, where he operates the campus he designed and built.

Now at
Google

Timeline

  1. 2012

    Shor's algorithm on a processor

    With bachelor's degrees in electrical engineering and applied physics at CU Denver and a physics PhD at UCSB, he is the lead author in 2012 of a demonstration that runs a version of Peter Shor's prime-factoring algorithm on a solid-state quantum processor.

  2. 2012

    IBM quantum postdoctoral work

    In 2012, he is a postdoctoral researcher in experimental quantum computing at IBM; he conducts the UCSB research as a doctoral student in physics.

  3. Since 2015

    Joining Google

    He joins Google in 2015.

  4. 2019

    Sycamore circuit sampling

    In 2019, he coauthors a paper on Google’s Sycamore processor, which samples one instance of a quantum circuit a million times in about 200 seconds.

  5. 2023

    A quantum-computing alumni award

    In 2023, he receives CU Denver's College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Distinguished Alumni Award for contributions to quantum computing.

  6. December 2024

    Surface codes below threshold

    In December 2024, he coauthors a paper presenting distance-5 and distance-7 surface-code memories below threshold on Willow superconducting processors.

  7. 2025

    Lattice gauge dynamics on qubits

    In 2025, he coauthors a study of local excitations in a lattice gauge theory using a two-dimensional lattice of superconducting qubits.

  8. As of October 2026

    Reinforcement learning for error correction

    In July 2026, he coauthors a Nature paper on reinforcement-learning control of quantum error correction. It teaches an RL agent to steer control parameters and stabilize the quantum system during computation. As of October 2026, he is a Staff Research Scientist on Google's Quantum AI team and Google's lead quantum engineer in Santa Barbara; he operates the campus he designed and built there.

Career

  1. NowGoogleStaff Research Scientist and lead quantum engineer
  2. From 2012IBMPostdoctoral researcher in experimental quantum computing

Education

  1. University of Colorado DenverBachelor's degrees in electrical engineering and applied physics
  2. University of California, Santa BarbaraPhD in physics

From the biography.

  1. Google alumni have founded or led 133 other organizations, more than any other AI labIncludes Erik Lucero. We estimate that alumni of 17 major AI labs went on to found or lead 350 other organizations, including 226 they founded, and we trace 472 career moves directly between 23 labs since 2010.
  2. Google had the most people shaping AI every year from 2014 to 2025Includes Google. Our estimates of which organizations employed the most people shaping AI each year from 1955 to 2025, tracing the shift from university labs to companies.
  3. Google has the highest combined h-index among AI organizationsIncludes Google. We estimate that Google holds the highest combined h-index at 8,016, while universities account for 73% of the deduplicated total across AI organizations.
  4. 20% of people at companies who shape AI also hold a university role, led by Google and Stanford UniversityIncludes Google. We estimate that 539 of the 6,766 people with a known current organization (8%) hold both a university role and a company role, including 20% of people at companies and 13% of people at universities.

Colleagues

People named in this biography, and people with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

Photo: We have no published photo of Erik Lucero yet. Send us a free-licensed photo.

  1. Erik Lucero '05, PhD | College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Distinguished Alumni Award ucdenver.edu. Checked 21 October 2026.
  2. UCSB Researchers Demonstrate That 15=3x5 About Half of the Time news.ucsb.edu. Checked 21 October 2026.
  3. Quantum Supremacy using a Programmable Superconducting Processor research.google. Checked 21 October 2026.
  4. Quantum error correction below the surface code threshold nature.com. Checked 21 October 2026.
  5. Visualizing Dynamics of Charges and Strings in (2+1)D Lattice Gauge Theories research.google. Checked 21 October 2026.
  6. Reinforcement learning control of quantum error correction nature.com. Checked 21 October 2026.
  7. Erik Lucero research.google. Checked 21 October 2026.
  8. SB a Tech Titan thanks to UCSB & Google Quantum AI ece.ucsb.edu. Checked 21 October 2026.
  9. Alumni Stories | Graduate Division graddiv.ucsb.edu. Checked 21 October 2026.