Lillian Hughes

Biography

Lillian grew up in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia and got her B.S. in Interdisciplinary Physics with a Chemistry concentration at the University of Richmond. Her interest in solid state physics and materials science brought her to begin her Ph.D. studies at UCSB in 2019, where she joined the group of Ania Jayich and is co-advised by Kunal Mukherjee. Lillian's research focuses on engineering diamond as a host material for qubits such as the nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center. She is working to establish infrastructure in the Quantum Foundry to create and study quantum-coherent point defects with precise control, specifically using the tools of chemical vapor deposition, electron irradiation, and nanofabrication techniques. Lillian is a recipient of the Goldwater scholarship, NDSEG fellowship, and NSF graduate research fellowship. When she is not playing with diamonds in lab, Lillian enjoys being outside, biking, hiking, making or listening to music, exploring new places, and spending time with the people she loves.