Our Team

Dirk Englund

Principal Investigator, MIT

Founding Member of CVAI

Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT. Leads the Quantum Photonics & AI Lab, where his group develops quantum photonic systems for communication, computation, and sensing, and explores new approaches to scientific discovery through formal verification and AI. Recipient of the Humboldt Professorship, Presidential Early Career Award, and Sloan Fellowship.

Kfir Sulimany

Principal Investigator, Technion & Postdoc at MIT

Founding Member of CVAI

Leads the group's research at the Technion and MIT, currently based in Prof. Dirk Englund's Quantum Photonics & AI Lab. PhD in Physics from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem under Prof. Yaron Bromberg, with achievements including the Marie Curie, Zuckerman, and Israeli CHE postdoctoral fellowships.

Benjy Firester

PhD Candidate, MIT Mathematics

Founding Member of CVAI

Leads CVAI Differential Geometry project building a formalized and verified differential geometry library in Lean. PhD student in Mathematics at MIT, working on geometric analysis, optimal transport, free boundary PDE, minimal surfaces, Monge-Ampère, and Calabi-Yau metrics. Previously AB/AM in Mathematics at Harvard, summa cum laude.

Maor Ben Shachar

Postdoctoral Researcher, MIT Physics

Founding Member of CVAI

Researcher at the Center for Theoretical Physics at MIT. Research spans quantum field theory, quantum information, and effective field theories. Leads the formalization of the quantum information project in Lean 4.

Uri Kol

Postdoctoral Researcher, Harvard

Member of the Center for Mathematical Sciences and Applications at Harvard University, with a research background in quantum gravity and black hole physics. Recently developed a program focused on analyzing the training dynamics of artificial neural networks using methods from theoretical physics. Currently leads the CVAI quantum computing project.

Jonathan Morag

Postdoctoral Researcher, MIT Physics

Incoming Postdoctoral Researcher at MIT. PhD from Weizmann Institute under Prof. Eli Waxman. Research spans high energy astrophysics simulations and quantum information. BSc / MSc Physics - Summa Cum Laude (UC Davis, Technion).