Prineha Narang

Narang earned her Bachelor's degree in materials science at Drexel University,[2] where she worked under the supervision of Yury Gogotsi on nanomaterial design.[3] She received an M.S. and Ph.D. in Applied Physics from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) working with Harry A. Atwater a trailblazer in quantum nanophotonics and light-matter interactions, Harry Atwater and William A. Goddard, III, the pioneer of theoretical and computational chemistry.[4][5] In particular, Narang considered quantum plasmonics and nitride materials for optoelectronics devices.[4]

Narang joined Harvard University as a Ziff Environmental Fellow in the Harvard University Center for the Environment.[2] Narang is interested in the interaction of quantum materials with electromagnetic radiation. 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,[1] 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.[6] 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.[7] After not receiving tenure at Harvard, she is moving to UCLA.

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.[8] 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.[9][10] 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.[11]

As an assistant professor of computational materials science at Harvard, Narang studies the optical, thermal, and electronic behavior of materials at the nanoscale to enable a new generation of technologies. [12]

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.

Narang is the founder and Chief Technology Officer of Aliro, a quantum network platform company.[13][14][15] The company has developed Q.compute, a platform to support developers in identifying the correct quantum computation system for a given application, and Q.network, that aids the design of efficient quantum networks.[16]

Alongside her research, Narang developed an undergraduate programme in quantum engineering.[17] She has also stressed the importance of balancing work with other activities in her mentorship and research.[18]

• 2017 Forbes 30 Under 30[19][20]
• 2018 World Economic Forum Young Global Leaders[17]
• 2018 MIT Technology Review TR35 Innovator[21][6]
• 2018 CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholar[22][11]
• 2018 Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation Moore Inventor Fellow[23]
• 2020 National Science Foundation CAREER Award[24][10]
• 2021 IUPAP Young Scientist Prize in Computational Physics[25]
• 2021 Max Planck Sabbatical Award from the Max Planck Society[26]
• 2021 Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel Research Award (Bessel Award) from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation[27]
• 2021 Mildred Dresselhaus Prize[28]

• Ana M Brown; Ravishankar Sundararaman; Prineha Narang; William A Goddard; Harry A Atwater (10 December 2015). "Nonradiative Plasmon Decay and Hot Carrier Dynamics: Effects of Phonons, Surfaces, and Geometry". ACS Nano. 10 (1): 957–966. doi:10.1021/ACSNANO.5B06199. ISSN 1936-0851. PMID 26654729. Wikidata Q45959898.
• Ravishankar Sundararaman; Prineha Narang; Adam S Jermyn; William A Goddard; Harry A Atwater (16 December 2014). "Theoretical predictions for hot-carrier generation from surface plasmon decay". Nature Communications. 5: 5788. doi:10.1038/NCOMMS6788. ISSN 2041-1723. PMC 4284641. PMID 25511713. Wikidata Q30421009.
• Emiliano Cortés; Wei Xie; Javier Cambiasso; Adam S Jermyn; Ravishankar Sundararaman; Prineha Narang; Sebastian Schlücker; Stefan A Maier (28 March 2017). "Plasmonic hot electron transport drives nano-localized chemistry". Nature Communications. 8: 14880. doi:10.1038/NCOMMS14880. ISSN 2041-1723. PMC 5379059. PMID 28348402. Wikidata Q42292925.
• Flick, J., and Narang, P. (2018). "Cavity-correlated electron-nuclear dynamics from first principles." Physical Review Letters, 121 (11), 113002.
• Coulter, J., Sundararaman, R., and Narang, P. (2018). "Microscopic origins of hydro-dynamic transport in the type-II Weyl semimetal WP2". Physical Review B, 98 (11), 115130
• Rivera, N., Flick, J., and Narang, P. (2019). "Variational theory of non-relativistic quantum electrodynamics." Physical Review Letters, 122 (19), 193603
• "Quantum Information and Algorithms for Correlated Quantum Matter"Kade Head-Marsden, Johannes Flick, Christopher J. Ciccarino, and Prineha Narang Cite this: Chem. Rev. 2021, 121, 5, 3061–3120
• Prineha Narang, Christina A. C. Garcia & Claudia Felser, "The topology of electronic band structures Nature Materials volume 20", pages 293–300 (2021) (link)
• Varnavides, G., Jermyn, A.S., Anikeeva, P., Felser, C., & Narang, P. (2020). "Electron hydrodynamics in anisotropic materials. Nature Communications" 11, 4710.
• Vool, U., Hamo, A., Varnavides, G., Wang, Y., Zhou, T.X., Kumar, N., Dovzhenko, Y., Qiu, Z., Garcia, C.A.C., Pierce, A.T., Gooth, J., Anikeeva, P., Felser, C., Narang, P. & Yacoby, A. (2021). "Imaging phonon-mediated hydrodynamic flow in WTe2 with cryogenic quantum magnetometry." Nature Physics.
• Rivera, N., Christensen, T., and Narang, P. (2019). "Phonon polaritonics in two-dimensional materials". Nano Letters, 2019, 19, 4, 2653-2660
• Neuman, T., Wang, D.S., & Narang, P. (2020). "Nanomagnonic cavities for strong spin-magnon coupling." Physical Review Letters 125 (24), 247702.
• Juraschek, D. M., Meier, Q. N., & Narang, P.  (2020). "Parametric excitation of an optically silent Goldstone-like phonon mode." Physical Review Letters 124, 117401. (link)