David Soloveichik

• Year

  2023

• Program

  Schmidt Science Polymaths

• Institution

  University of Texas at Austin

• Field of Study

  Computer Science

• Location

  Austin, USA

Dr. David Soloveichik is an Associate Professor and holds a Temple Foundation Endowed Faculty Fellowship in the Chandra Family Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin.

He received his undergraduate and Masters degrees from Harvard University in Computer Science. He completed his PhD degree in Computation and Neural Systems at the California Institute of Technology, where his dissertation was awarded the Milton and Francis Clauser Doctoral Prize for the best doctoral thesis. Dr. Soloveichik was the recipient of the Feynman Prize in Nanotechnology (Theory) from the Foresight Institute, the Tulip Award from the International Society for Nanoscale Science, Computation and Engineering, the National Science Foundation CAREER Award, and the Sloan Research Fellowship.

Dr. Soloveichik’s research recapitulates complex molecular behaviors that are usually associated with life using bottom-up rational design of molecular components instead of biological evolution. His work combines wet-lab experiments with the development of new mathematical abstractions that help guide programming of molecular function. Mathematical abstractions like Boolean algebra have been invaluable in creating the complexity of digital electronic computers—unmatched in human engineering—but new models and abstractions are needed for the molecular domain. In the laboratory, Dr. Soloveichik has been instrumental in developing the technology of DNA-only logic circuits and dynamical systems, including the first DNA chemical oscillator. His broader interests are highly interdisciplinary, ranging from neural networks, to analog computation, to quantum computing and psychology.