UNSW physicist joins elite US academy

Scientia Professor of Physics Michelle Simmons, from the University of New South Wales (UNSW), has been elected as a foreign honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She is one of only 10 Australians to have received such an honour.

Professor Simmons is a world leader in the field of quantum computing. She came to Australia from the University of Cambridge to be a founding member of UNSW’s Centre of Excellence for Quantum Computer Technology (now the ARC Centre for Quantum Computation & Communication Technology) and is currently the centre’s director.

Professor Simmons harnesses the power of atoms to develop super-fast, super-small devices that can process huge amounts of data. The ultimate aim of researchers in this field is to develop a commercially viable quantum supercomputer that can complete in days extraordinarily complex tasks that would currently take decades.

Her research group at UNSW developed the world’s smallest working transistor, a crucial component of a future quantum computer. The lab is now the only one in the world able to make atomically precise devices in silicon, including the thinnest conducting wires yet produced - 1000 times narrower than a human hair

In 2005, Professor Simmons was awarded the Australian Academy of Science’s Pawsey Medal and, in 2006, she became one of the academy’s youngest fellows. Cosmos magazine named her one of Australia’s top 10 scientific minds under 45 and she was also listed among The Sydney Morning Herald’s 100 most influential people. In 2012, she was named NSW Scientist of the Year. She has published more than 350 papers in refereed journals.

“I am incredibly honoured to be elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences,” Professor Simmons said. “This is such an exciting time for quantum computing internationally and our research here at UNSW is at the forefront of this global effort.

“We are working to achieve the ultimate in computer miniaturisation - to develop components for the world’s first integrated circuit where all elements are constructed on the atomic scale.”

Since its founding in 1780, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences has elected leading ‘thinkers and doers’ from each generation, including George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Daniel Webster, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Margaret Meade and Martin Luther King, Jr.

The academy is also a centre for independent policy research, with members frequently contributing to its publications and studies. The chair of the academy’s board of directors, Don Randel, said, “The knowledge and expertise of our members give the academy a unique capacity - and responsibility - to provide practical policy solutions to the pressing challenges of the day. We look forward to engaging our new members in this work.”

Professor Simmons is one of 204 new members, including leaders in the sciences, social sciences, humanities, arts, business, public affairs and the non-profit sector, elected to the prestigious society. The induction ceremony will take place on 11 October at the academy’s headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts