Junseo Lee

I am an incoming PhD student in Quantum Science and Engineering at Harvard University. I am fortunate to be co-advised by Anurag Anshu, Sitan Chen, and Jordan Cotler.

I am part of the Harvard Quantum Initiative, the Theory of Computation Group at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, and the Harvard Department of Physics. I am also a Junior Investigator at the NSF AI Institute for Artificial Intelligence and Fundamental Interactions (IAIFI).

My research focuses on quantum information science from the perspectives of theoretical computer science and theoretical physics, with particular interests in quantum complexity theory, algorithms for learning quantum systems, quantum many-body theory, and their connections to quantum gravity and quantum field theory.

Previously, I was a Research Associate at the SNU Institute of Computer Technology and a Research Affiliate at the SNU Research Institute of Mathematics. I received my B.S. from Yonsei University, supported by the Hyundai Motor CMK Science and Technology Scholarship.

📄 Curriculum Vitae (Last updated: May 23, 2026)
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📨 junseolee at fas.harvard.edu

News +
  • May 2026: I joined the NSF AI Institute for Artificial Intelligence and Fundamental Interactions (IAIFI) as a Junior Investigator.
  • Apr. 2026: I gave an invited career talk for students at Shinil High School.
  • Apr. 2026: Our paper on Hamiltonian certification was selected as a contributed talk at TQC 2026.
  • Apr. 2026: I joined the Institute of Computer Technology at Seoul National University as a Research Associate, where I will be working until August 2026 before joining Harvard.
  • Mar. 2026: I visited Harvard for the QSE Open House and continued my visit with support from Anurag Anshu.
  • Mar. 2026: I completed my mandatory military service!
  • Feb. 2026: I was delighted to be admitted to the Ph.D. programs in QSE at Harvard and Physics at MIT. I have accepted the offer from Harvard QSE and am excited for the journey ahead!
Selected Papers +
A full publication list is available here.
Mentoring +

I mentored undergraduate students in research, which I found both deeply rewarding and intellectually enriching. I had the privilege of working with outstanding students and learned a great deal from our collaborations. The students I have worked with are listed below:

Current Mentees:
Former Mentees:

I would be happy to mentor research projects if there is a good fit. Please feel free to reach out by email if you are interested!

Teaching +
Miscellaneous +

I enjoy playing table tennis and the piano, and I also like a wide variety of puzzle games. I was born in Asan, South Korea, and spent most of my life in Seoul.

I am also particularly interested in the Mathematics Genealogy Project. By tracing the academic lineages of my advisors, I came across several fascinating connections. In particular, it was striking to encounter figures such as Leonhard Euler (from Anurag Anshu), Carl Gustav Jacob Jacobi (from Sitan Chen), and Paul Dirac (from Jordan Cotler) along these lineages!

[See full list]

Anurag Anshu → Rahul Jain → Jaikumar Radhakrishnan → Endre Szemerédi → Israel Gelfand → Andrey Kolmogorov → Nikolai Luzin → Dmitri Egorov → Nikolai Bugaev → Joseph Liouville → Siméon Poisson → Joseph-Louis Lagrange → Leonhard Euler → Johann Bernoulli → (...)

Sitan Chen → Ankur Moitra → Thomson Leighton → Gary Miller → Manuel Blum → Marvin Minsky → Albert W. Tucker → Solomon Lefschetz → William Edward Story → Carl Neumann → Friedrich Julius Richelot → Carl Gustav Jacob Jacobi → Enno Dirksen → Johann Tobias Mayer → (...)

Jordan Cotler → Patrick Hayden → Artur Ekert → David Deutsch → Dennis Sciama → Paul Dirac → Ralph Fowler → Archibald Vivian Hill → Sir Walter Fletcher → John Newport Langley → Michael Foster → Thomas Henry Huxley → Thomas W. Jones → William MacKenzie → (...)