Qian-Ze Zhu

I am Qian-Ze (Rosella) Zhu (朱倩泽), a 5th-year PhD student in Applied Physics at Harvard University, advised by Prof. Michael P. Brenner.

I study how computation, learning, and organization emerge in complex systems far from equilibrium. My research combines statistical physics, differentiable simulation and machine learning to uncover fundamental limits and design principles governing self-assembly, information flow, and molecular computation.

Education

2021 – Present

Ph.D. in Applied Physics

Harvard University, Cambridge, MA

Advisor: Prof. Michael P. Brenner

2021 – 2024

M.S. in Applied Mathematics

Harvard University, Cambridge, MA

2017 – 2021

B.S. in Physics

Peking University, Beijing, China

Advisor: Prof. Yun-Feng Xiao
Graduated with honors. National Scholarship.

Experience

2025 Jun. – Present

Student Researcher (Part-time)

Google Research, Cambridge, MA

Working on large-scale AI systems that use large language models and tree search to automate scientific discovery, with applications to PDE emulation and neural data analysis.

2021 Sep. – 2022 Sep.

Graduate Researcher

Harvard University, Cambridge, MA

Advisor: Prof. Mikhail Lukin

2020 Jul. – 2021 Aug.

Research Intern

Remote (UC Berkeley)

Advisor: Prof. Norman Yao

2019 Jun. – 2019 Aug.

Research Intern

University of Vienna, Austria

Advisor: Prof. Markus Aspelmeyer


Teaching & Service Experience

  • Teaching Assistant, Harvard University
    • Applied Math 215: Mathematical Modeling for Computational Science, 2024
    • Applied Math 205: Advanced Scientific Computing: Numerical Methods, 2023
  • Science Writer, Science in the News

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