People

LeBlanc group, Summer 2023

Our team consists of a diverse group of people, with a variety of backgrounds and experiences. We are always looking for new people to join us in our journey to uncover and harness the quantum world.

All email addresses listed here should be followed by @ualberta.ca

Current Group Members

Lindsay J LeBlanc

PI, Associate Professor

email: lindsay.leblanc

Andal Narayanan

Visiting Professor

email: andal1

Arina Tashchilina

Postdoctoral Fellow

email: tashchil

Arina's website

Anindya Rastogi

PhD Student

email: rastogi1

Nicholas Milson

PhD Student

email: nmilson

Kusum Meena

PhD Student

email: kusum

Ashkan Bayat

PhD Student

email: abayat1

Bahar Babaei

MSc Student

email: bbabaei

Travis Hosack

MSc Student

email: tahosack

Jichu Shi

Undergraduate Researcher

Douglas Florizone

Undergraduate Co-op Researcher

Franz Benedict Romero

Undergraduate Co-op Researcher

Sophie Gans

Undergraduate Student

Katie Tamura

Undergraduate Student

Group meeting 11 August 2023 (Two birthdays and a last-day in the lab for the summer) means we had ALL the treats

LeBlanc group Summer 2022

End-of-year dinner, December 2022

LeBlanc Group, Summer 2018

LeBlanc Group, Summer 2019

LeBlanc group, Summer 2020

Former Group Members

Postdoctoral

Dr. Erhan Saglamyurek (2016-2022)
Current position: Project Scientist @ Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratories

Graduate (alphabetically by last name)

Logan W. Cooke (Ph.D. Physics 2024): "Artificial Gauge Fields in Ultracold Atomic Ensembles"
Current position: Postdoctoral fellow, Czischek group, University of Ottawa
Taras Hrushevskyi (M.Sc. Physics, 2017): "Quantum gas apparatus for Bose-Einstein condensation of 87Rb"
Current position: Research Associate, Barzanjeh group, University of Calgary
Joseph Lindon (M.Sc. Physics 2024): "A Qutrit in Ultracold Rubidium-87"
Current position: Quantum hardware engineer, Anyon Systems, Waterloo, ON
Brittany (Ying-Ying) Lu (M.Sc. Physics 2021): "Magnetometry with Microwave-Assisted Optical Pumping in Warm Rb Vapor and Microfabricated Rb Vapor Cells"
Current position: PhD candidate, UCLA
James Maldaner (M. Sc. ECE, 2020): "Towards a monolithic process for open-access Fabry-Perot etalon cavities"
Current position: PhD candidate, Porat group, University of Alberta
Benjamin D. Smith (Ph.D. Physics 2024): "Nonlinear interactions using neutral atomic gases"
Current position: Postdoctoral fellow, Sandia National Laboratories (Albuquerque, NM, USA)
Michelle Sullivan (M. Sc. Physics, 2020): "A Cold Atoms Apparatus for a New Hybrid Quantum System"
Current position: B.Ed studies, UAlberta
Jacques Thibault (M.Sc. Physics, 2019): "Micro-wire Magnetic Trap Chips for use in Ultracold Atom Experiments"
Current position: Consultant, Baker Hughes (Calgary)
Andrei Tretiakov (M.Sc. Physics 2016 & Ph.D. Physics 2021) "Manipulating optical properties of rubidium through microwave interactions "
Current position: Postdoctoral Fellow, Campbell group, UCLA

Undergraduate (alphabetically by last name)

Sarah Amaneddine (B.Sc. Physics, 2024) [summer researcher 2021]
Satchel Jeanne Armena (B.Sc. Physics, 2020) [Phys 499 project Winter 2020]
Jayke Boghean (B.Sc. Engineering Physics, Co-op 2022) [summer USRA researcher 2019]
Jacob Byers (B.Sc. Engineering Physics, Co-op 2023) [summer USRA researcher 2020]
Christian Chenard (B.Sc. Engineering Physics 2024) [summer researcher 2023]
Holly Christiani (B.Sc. Physics, 2018) [Phys 499 project Winter 2018]
Kristen Côté (B.Sc. Physics, 2015) [Phys 499 project Winter 2016]
Luca Galler (B.Sc. Astrophysics, 2025, Waterloo) [Co-op research 2022-2023]
Charles Jensen (B.Sc. Physics, 2015) [lab volunteer 2014]
Taryn Haluza-DeLay (B.Sc. Engineering Physics, 2020) [summer USRA researcher 2017]
Chad Hauck (B.Sc. Physics 2023) [summer USRA researcher 2022]
Julieta Hernandez (B.Sc. Physics 2022) [Phys 499 Fall 2021]
Chenxi Huang (B.Sc. Engineering Physics, Coop 2020) [summer researcher/Coop 2016]
Yeh-In Kang (B.Sc. Engineering Physics 2024) [summer researcher 2022]
Inka Kennepohl (B. Sc. Physics, 2021) [summer SUPRE researcher 2019 & Phys 499 Fall 2021]
Timothy Lee (B. Sc. Engineering Physics, Co-op 2022) [summer researcher/Co-op 2018 + co-op Winter 2019]
James Maldaner (B.Sc. Eng. Phys. 2015, also see above) [ECE 409 project, summer researcher 2014]
William Morrish (B.Sc. Physics 2015) [summer researcher 2015]
Ketty Na (B.Sc. Physics, 2016) [lab volunteer 2014; Phys 499 project Fall 2015]
Keiran Nicholson (B.Sc. Physics 2025) [USRA summer researcher 2023]
Jessica Obacz (B.Sc. Physics 2015) [summer researcher 2014]
Tian Ooi (B. Sc. Engineering Physics, 2023) [summer SUPRE researcher 2020 + Co-op Winter-Summer 2021+ summer research 2023]
Christian Prosko (B.Sc. Physics 2016) [Phys 499 project Fall 2015]
Anna Prus-Czarnecka (B.Sc. Physics 2024) [research assistant 2021 - 2023]
Dylan Podkowka (B.Sc. Physics 2016) [lab volunteer 2014/5]
Myles Ruether (B.Sc. Physics 2020) [summer researcher 2019 & 2020, Phys 499 Winter 2020]
Haille Sharum (B.Sc. Physics 2015) [summer researcher 2015]
Xiaodan (Alice) Shen (B.Sc. Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China, 2015) [summer intern, 2014]
Jichu Shi (B.Sc. Engineering Physics 2024) [summer SUPRE researcher 2022, summer researcher 2023]
Tristan Stark (B. Sc. Physics 2019) [Phys 499 project Winter 2019]
Daniel To (B. Sc. Engineering Physics, Coop 2022) [summer researcher/Co-op 2018]
Carter Trautman (B.Sc. Engineering Physics, 2020) [co-op researcher May-Dec 2017]
Scott Wilson (B.Sc. Engineering Physics, Coop 2020) [summer USRA/fall researcher/Coop 2016]
Salman Zafar (B.Sc. Engineering 2026)[ELITE Program for Black Youth summer researcher, 2023]

High-school interns

Brielle Airey (WISEST Summer Research program)[summer 2023]
Julia Hokanson [summer 2023]

Research Assistants (alphabetically by last name)

Taras Hrushevskyi (RA from 2017 - 2021, now at Barzanjeh lab @ UCalgary)
Myles Ruether (RA from 2020 - 2021, now at Simmons lab @ SFU/Photonic Inc)