James Freericks

James Freericks has established himself as a leading figure in theoretical and computational physics at Georgetown University, where he has served since 1994 as Professor and McDevitt Chair of Physics. After earning his A.B. from Princeton University in 1985 (summa cum laude) and Ph.D. from UC Berkeley in 1991 under Leo Falicov, he completed postdoctoral work at UC Santa Barbara with Doug Scalapino and UC Davis with Richard Scalettar. His research spans multiple areas including mathematical physics, many-body computational methods, and quantum simulation, with recent focus on transport in multilayers and nonequilibrium physics. His computational work has pioneered dynamical mean-field theory applications, particularly in solving various models like the Falicov-Kimball, Hubbard, and Holstein models. His achievements have earned numerous accolades, including the Georgetown Presidential Teacher-Scholar Award (2017), Outstanding Referee prize (2012), and Alpha Sigma Nu Book Award (2009). Currently funded by NSF, DARPA, Army Research Office, and the Department of Energy, his group works on quantum chemistry calculations for emerging quantum computers while also developing innovative approaches to teaching quantum mechanics to non-scientists.