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| Brandon Strand | |
|---|---|
| Name | Brandon Strand |
| Birth date | 1984 |
| Birth place | Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S. |
| Occupation | Scientist, engineer, author |
| Alma mater | Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University |
| Known for | Quantum materials research, nanofabrication techniques |
Brandon Strand is an American scientist and engineer noted for work in quantum materials, nanofabrication, and condensed matter physics. His interdisciplinary career spans academic research, industrial innovation, and policy advisory roles, connecting laboratories at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University, and industrial partners such as IBM and Intel. Strand has published in high-impact venues and contributed to collaborative efforts linking research institutions, national laboratories, and international consortia.
Strand was born in Minneapolis and grew up in the Upper Midwest, attending Minnehaha Academy and participating in regional science programs connected to the Minnesota State Fair and the University of Minnesota. He completed undergraduate studies in physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he worked with groups affiliated with the RLE (Research Laboratory of Electronics) and engaged in projects connected to the American Physical Society undergraduate initiatives. For graduate training, Strand enrolled at Stanford University for a Ph.D. in applied physics, collaborating with faculty linked to the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and participating in exchanges with researchers at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. His doctoral thesis focused on nanoscale electronic interfaces, supervised by faculty with appointments in both the Department of Physics, Stanford University and the Stanford School of Engineering.
After postdoctoral work at a joint appointment between a university nanofabrication facility and an industrial research lab, Strand joined the faculty of a research university as an assistant professor in a department affiliated with the Columbia University School of Engineering and Applied Science (appointment model). He later moved to a leadership role at an institute modeled on the Max Planck Society research centers, directing a laboratory that partnered with the National Science Foundation and the European Research Council on multinational projects. Strand has held visiting researcher positions at Hitachi Research Laboratory and served as a consultant to the technology divisions of Microsoft and Samsung Electronics.
In industry, Strand led development teams focused on integrating materials platforms for quantum computing prototypes with companies in the Silicon Valley ecosystem and research units of DARPA-funded projects. He has been an invited speaker at conferences hosted by the American Institute of Physics, the Materials Research Society, and the IEEE. Strand has also participated in advisory boards for the National Quantum Initiative and contributed to workshops convened by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.
Strand’s research centers on electronic properties of low-dimensional systems, topological phases, and heterostructures combining two-dimensional materials such as graphene, transition metal dichalcogenides, and engineered oxide interfaces like those in strontium titanate heterostructures. His group developed nanofabrication techniques leveraging tools from shared facilities modeled on the NanoLab concept and advanced methods in molecular beam epitaxy related to procedures used at the Argonne National Laboratory and Brookhaven National Laboratory.
Key contributions include demonstration of tunable superconductivity at engineered interfaces, experiments probing Majorana-like excitations inspired by theoretical models from groups at Caltech and Princeton University, and development of scalable contact engineering approaches influenced by practices at NASA's electronics laboratories. Strand co-authored papers that combined scanning tunneling microscopy methods refined at the Center for Functional Nanomaterials with transport measurements akin to protocols at the Joint Quantum Institute.
He has led multi-institutional collaborations integrating materials synthesis, device physics, and theoretical modeling from teams at the University of California, Berkeley, Harvard University, and the University of Tokyo. Through partnerships with the European Organization for Nuclear Research's instrumentation divisions and the National Institute of Standards and Technology, Strand’s work has influenced standards for characterizing decoherence sources in solid-state qubits and contributed to roadmaps adopted by consortia organized by the Quantum Economic Development Consortium.
Strand’s recognitions include early-career awards from organizations patterned after the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellows program and career grants from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. He received a mid-career distinguished investigator award analogous to those given by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation and fellowship election to a professional society similar to the American Physical Society Fellows program. His teams have earned competitive instrumentation grants from the National Science Foundation and collaborative project awards from the European Research Council-style funding mechanisms. Strand has been listed among recipients of institutional teaching awards modeled on honors from the Carnegie Foundation for excellence in research-led education.
Strand resides in an urban research hub and maintains active engagement with outreach programs connected to the Smithsonian Institution-style public science initiatives and local makerspaces modeled on the MIT Media Lab community. He volunteers with STEM mentorship programs affiliated with the Boys & Girls Clubs of America and serves on boards of nonprofit organizations promoting international scientific exchange resembling the Fulbright Program. In his free time, Strand pursues outdoor activities inspired by the landscapes of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and contributes essays on science policy to editorials in venues similar to those published by the Nature Publishing Group.
Category:American physicists Category:Nanotechnology researchers