Prof. Roee Ozeri was born in Israel and earned a BSc in physics from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He received his MSc and PhD degrees in physics from the Weizmann Institute of Science. He conducted postdoctoral research at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Boulder, Colorado in the group of David Wineland, 2012 Physics Nobel Laurate. He joined the Weizmann Institute faculty in 2007, and will assume office as the Vice President for Resource Development and Public Affairs on December 1, 2019.
Prof. Ozeri conducts research in the field of ultra-cold atoms. One of his research efforts is quantum computing—the development of computing systems that make use of the principles of quantum mechanics. Such quantum systems have the potential to perform immense information-processing tasks that are out of reach of regular computers, and they can have a vastly greater capacity for storing information. If such systems are indeed built, they will revolutionize the world of computing, requiring, for example, an entirely new approach to ensuring the secrecy of information—such as in online banking transactions. Prof. Ozeri focuses on one of the greatest challenges in developing quantum computers: finding ways to mitigate the effect of noise on quantum systems. Since quantum information is extremely fragile, noise is the largest nemesis of quantum computing.
Prof. Ozeri received the Rosa and Emilio Segre Research Award in 2019, the Morris L. Levinson Prize in Physics in 2012, and the prestigious Rothschild Fund postdoctoral prize fellowship in 2003. His articles have been published in prestigious scientific and physics journals such as Nature, Science, and Physical Review Letters. Prof. Ozeri is a member of the executive boards of the Davidson Institute of Science Education and the Schwarz-Reisman Centers for Science Education.