Curiosity drives Nazli Ugur Koyluoglu. An inaugural member of Harvard’s PhD program in quantum science and engineering, she is fascinated by the unknown possibilities at the intersection of quantum information and many-body physics.
Koyluoglu is the first recipient of a Harvard Frontier Fellowship, funded through a generous gift from Hartley Rogers AB ’81, MBA ’85 and Amy Falls MPP ’89.
“These fields are ever growing and ever intertwining, to show us new ways of thinking about quantum physics and applications,” Koyluoglu says. “It’s an exploratory field where I can think about exciting questions that contribute to advancing quantum science and technologies—areas that are already interesting to me—just out of pure curiosity.”
As one of several theorists in the Lukin Group, Koyluoglu works closely with a team of experimentalists. Their theoretical research supports the development of quantum simulators and quantum computers, identifies new physics phenomena, and advances information applications beyond what we can imagine today.
Through Frontier Fellowships, the Harvard Kenneth C. Griffin Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS) can support exceptional scholars across all disciplines, remain nimble, and help train fellows like Koyluoglu in innovative new fields of study.
“Hartley Rogers and Amy Falls’s gift allows students to push the very boundaries of knowledge and have significant impact on society’s most challenging problems,” says Emma Dench, dean of Harvard Griffin GSAS and McLean Professor of Ancient and Modern History and of the Classics.
Koyluoglu hopes to discover new frontiers within Harvard’s quantum community—what she calls “the center of gravity for quantum research.” She also plans to continue the advocacy work she began as a Stanford undergraduate, making quantum and physics more accessible, equitable, and approachable in her native Turkey and for women and minoritized groups everywhere.
“Tremendously grateful” for the impact Harvard has had on him and his family, Rogers named the first of the Rogers Family Fellowships in honor of his mother, Adrianne E. Rogers AB ’54, MD ’58. In addition to funding these fellowships, the family’s gift will bolster Harvard Kennedy School fellowships, endow graduate dissertation research, and provide immediate support for the vice provost for advances in learning. Their generosity was inspired by the vision of Harvard President Larry Bacow JD ’76, MPP ’76, PhD ’78 and Edgerley Family Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences Claudine Gay, now Harvard president-elect.
“Graduate students are the lifeblood of Harvard,” Rogers says. “They’re heavily involved in undergraduate education, in research, in the future. Harvard needs to be able to support them financially to remain competitive with other universities.”
“In the School’s sesquicentennial year,” adds Dench, “it is wonderful to see a gift that embodies our anniversary themes of inquiry, innovation, and impact and highlights the importance of the work our students do, which is so central to the University’s research mission.”
Rogers is proud to provide resources for these exemplary scholars and hopes others will join him with critical support.
“Quantum physics deals with the infinitesimally small, but the potential of these fellowship recipients is enormous,” he says. “By helping graduate students on their academic journeys, we have the opportunity not just to support Harvard, but to benefit the wider world.”
“Graduate students are the lifeblood of Harvard. They’re heavily involved in undergraduate education, in research, in the future. And Harvard needs to be able to support them financially to remain competitive with other universities.”