Jérôme F. Gonthier

Quantum application scientist at Zapata Computing, Inc.

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Currently working with the awesome team at Zapata Computing as a quantum application scientist, developping software and algorithms for quantum computing.

I contributed C++ code to the open-source software Psi4 from 2014 to 2016, and to the commercial Q-Chem software from 2016. I enjoy coding a lot and started actively practicing and competing on HackerRank, supported by a thorough reading of "Introduction to Algorithms". My HackerRank activities are on hold while getting settled in Boston.

Short bio

I obtained my Master in Chemistry from Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in 2009 after conducting my Master thesis project with Prof. Walter Thiel at the Max Plack Institute for Coal Research in Mulheim an der Ruhr (Germany). In 2013 I received my PhD in computational and theoretical chemistry under the direction of Prof. Clemence Corminboeuf in EPFL.

In 2014, I was awarded an Early Post-Doc mobility grant from the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) to work on Symmetry-Adapted Perturbation Theory with Prof. C. David Sherrill in GeorgiaTech (Atlanta, USA). In 2016 I received an Advanced Post-Doc mobility grant from the SNSF to work with Prof. Martin Head-Gordon at UC Berkeley (USA). After the end of my grant, Prof. Head-Gordon hired me as a post-doc researcher. I am now working as a quantum application scientist for Zapata Computing.

In 2012, I co-authored an introductory textbook for general chemistry.

Current interests

Quantum computing

Quantum Chemistry

  • Inter- and intramolecular non-covalent interactions, in particular dispersion interactions
  • Energy decomposition analysis: both variational (ALMO-EDA) and Symmetry-Adapted Perturbation Theory (SAPT)
  • Catalysis
  • Quantum computing
  • Embedding theories

Software engineering

  • Machine learning
  • Algorithmic and problem solving