Prineha Narang
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Prineha Narang | |
|---|---|
 Narang in 2025 at NASEM Government-University-Industry-Philanthropy Research Roundtable | |
| Born | September 27, 1989 |
| Alma mater | |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | |
| Institutions | |
| Thesis | Light-Matter Interactions in Semiconductors and Metals: From Nitride Optoelectronics to Quantum Plasmonics (2015) |
| Doctoral advisors | |
| Other academic advisors | Postdoctoral Advisors |
Prineha Narang (born September 27, 1989) is an American physicist and computational material scientist. She is a Professor of Physical Sciences and Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Howard Reiss Chair, at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where she studies computational science, condensed matter theory, quantum photonics, and quantum information science.[1][2]
In 2023 she was appointed a U.S. Science Envoy by the Secretary of State; she was reappointed to the role in 2024 advancing American quantum science, technology, and innovation internationally.[3][4]
Narang's work has been recognized with the Mildred Dresselhaus Prize,[5] the 2021 IUPAP Young Scientist Prize in Computational Physics, a Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel Research Award (Bessel Prize) from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, and a Max Planck Sabbatical Award from the Max Planck Society. Narang also received a National Science Foundation CAREER Award in 2020, was named a Moore Inventor Fellow by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation for the development for a fundamentally new strategy for using picoscale quantum sensors,[6] CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholar by the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, and a Top Innovator by MIT Tech Review (MIT TR35). Narang was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2023 [7] and elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society (APS) in 2024.[8]
In 2025, Narang joined DCVC,[9] as the Silicon Valley-based deep-tech venture capital firm doubled down on quantum tech leadership.[10] DCVC is invested in several leading quantum companies.
Narang earned her Bachelor's degree at Drexel University,[11] where she worked with Yury Gogotsi on nanomaterials.[12] She received an M.S. and Ph.D. in Applied Physics from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in 2015 working with Harry A. Atwater on light–matter interactions.[13][14]. Her Ph.D these was titled "Light-Matter Interactions in Semiconductors and Metals: From Nitride Optoelectronics to Quantum Plasmonics."[13] At Caltech, Narang was both a Resnick Fellow [15] and a NSF Graduate Research Fellow.[15]
Narang began her career as a Fellow at Harvard University Center for the Environment[16] and then an Assistant Professor in the John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Harvard University[17][18].
Academic career
Narang was elected to the Caltech Board of Trustees in 2023.[19][20]
Narang was appointed to the Science Advisory Council of arXiv, [21] a research-sharing platform.
In scientific publishing, Narang is an Associate Editor at ACS Nano[22] of the American Chemical Society, an Associate Editor at Applied Physics Letters[23] of the American Institute of Physics, and on the Editorial Advisory Boards of Nano Letters,[24] APL Quantum,[25] and Advanced Photonics.[26]
Research focus
Narang joined Harvard University as a Ziff Environmental Fellow in the Harvard University Center for the Environment.[11] In 2016, Narang joined Massachusetts Institute of Technology and worked as a Research Scholar at MIT with Marin Soljacic and John Joannopolous in condensed matter theory,[27] where she worked on the development of computation models to predict quantum interactions. In particular, Narang looks to better understand excited state and non-equilibrium phenomena.[28] These findings are used to inform the design of new materials and devices. Narang is interested in the bottom-up design of optimised materials, which requires atom-by-atom engineering.[29]
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In 2017, Narang was appointed to the faculty of the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. She designed a quantum sensing device that can detect and identify isolated molecules.[30] Beyond light–matter interactions, Narang has pioneered development of solid-state quantum repeaters, nanoscale devices that can store quantum information and convert it into photons by predicting color centers in 2D and 3D materials.[31][32] A precise understanding of light–matter interactions might allow the design of novel catalytic systems, where energy transfer pathways and the energetic landscape of chemical reactions can be manipulated through the coupling of light and matter.[33]
As an assistant professor of computational materials science at Harvard, Narang studied the optical, thermal, and electronic behavior of materials at the nanoscale to enable a new generation of technologies.[28] Since 2022, her interdisciplinary group, NarangLab, moved to UCLA, where she and her team continue to explore topics at the intersection of computational science, condensed matter theory, quantum photonics, and quantum information science.[1] Her upcoming move was recently covered by Inside Quantum Technology.[2] Narang's work builds on decades of advances in nanoscience that have brought the field closer to a long-held goal: the ability to engineer materials atom by atom.
In 2025, Narang joined DCVC,[9] as the Silicon Valley-based deep-tech venture capital firm doubled down on quantum tech leadership.[10]
Narang holds leadership roles in various Department of Energy, Department of Defense and National Science Foundation centers, and her service work includes Chairing the Materials Research Society (MRS) Spring Meeting (2022) [34] and the MRS-Kavli Foundation Future of Materials Workshop: Computational Materials Science (2021),[35] as an Associate Editor for ACS Nano,[36] and most recently a leadership role in APS' Division of Materials Physics.[37]
Alongside her research, Narang developed an undergraduate program in quantum engineering.[38] She has also stressed the importance of balancing work with other activities in her mentorship and research.[39]
Narang recently joined the Foundation for American Innovation (FAI) as a Non-Resident Senior Fellow talking and writing about America’s tech stack [40].