PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Evan Jeffrey

Also known as Evan R. Jeffrey

Evan Jeffrey is a quantum AI researcher at Google whose work connects superconducting processors with error correction. He wrote a Ph.D. thesis in 2007 with the Kwiat Quantum Information Group at the University of Illinois, then held a postdoctoral fellowship at UC Santa Barbara and joined Google as a quantum electronics engineer in 2014. His work included a 2016 molecular-hydrogen simulation, the 2019 Sycamore sampling experiment, a 2023 surface-code study and below-threshold Willow memories in December 2024. In July 2026, he coauthored research using reinforcement learning to stabilize quantum error correction during computation; as of October 2026, he works in Quantum AI at Google.

Now at
Google
Works
202
Citations
17,585
h-index
59
Badges

Publication numbers from OpenAlex, as of 22 October 2026.

Timeline

  1. 2007

    Advanced quantum communication systems

    In 2007, he writes a Ph.D. thesis titled “Advanced Quantum Communication Systems” with the Kwiat Quantum Information Group at the University of Illinois.

  2. 2012–2014

    Postdoctoral fellow at UC Santa Barbara

    He works as a postdoctoral fellow at UC Santa Barbara from 2012 to 2014.

  3. 2014

    Quantum electronics engineer at Google

    He joins Google as a quantum electronics engineer in 2014.

  4. 2016

    Molecular energies on superconducting qubits

    In 2016, he coauthors “Scalable Quantum Simulation of Molecular Energies,” which uses a programmable array of superconducting qubits to compute the energy surface of molecular hydrogen.

  5. 2019

    The Sycamore sampling experiment

    In 2019, he coauthors the report on Google's 53-qubit Sycamore processor. The processor samples one quantum circuit a million times in about 200 seconds; an equivalent task on a state-of-the-art classical supercomputer would take approximately 10,000 years.

  6. 2023

    Scaling a surface-code logical qubit

    In 2023, he coauthors Google Quantum AI's study “Suppressing quantum errors by scaling a surface code logical qubit.” Its distance-5 surface-code logical qubit modestly outperforms an ensemble of distance-3 logical qubits on average.

  7. December 2024

    Below-threshold Willow memories

    In December 2024, he coauthors a report of two below-threshold surface-code memories on Willow superconducting processors: a distance-7 code and a distance-5 code integrated with a real-time decoder.

  8. As of October 2026

    Quantum AI at Google

    As of October 2026, he works in Quantum AI at Google. In July 2026, he coauthors “Reinforcement learning control of quantum error correction,” which teaches a reinforcement learning agent to steer the physical control parameters and stabilize the quantum system during computation.

Career

  1. Since 2014GoogleQuantum electronics engineer
  2. 2012–2014University of California, Santa BarbaraPostdoctoral fellow
  3. 2008–2012Leiden University
  4. 2002–2004University of Illinois System

Education

  1. 2007University of Illinois Urbana-ChampaignPhD

From the biography and OpenAlex affiliations (the years of papers that list the organization), so some years are approximate.

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. Google alumni have founded or led 133 other organizations, more than any other AI labIncludes Google. 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.

Colleagues

People with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

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  1. Kwiat Quantum Information Group: People research.physics.illinois.edu. Checked 22 October 2026.
  2. Current Members physics.ucsb.edu. Checked 22 October 2026.
  3. Scalable Quantum Simulation of Molecular Energies | Google Research research.google. Checked 22 October 2026.
  4. Quantum supremacy using a programmable superconducting processor | Nature nature.com. Checked 22 October 2026.
  5. Suppressing quantum errors by scaling a surface code logical qubit | Nature nature.com. Checked 22 October 2026.
  6. Quantum error correction below the surface code threshold | Nature nature.com. Checked 22 October 2026.
  7. Evan Jeffrey | Google Research research.google. Checked 22 October 2026.
  8. Reinforcement learning control of quantum error correction | Nature nature.com. Checked 22 October 2026.