About

Can an AI agent run science end-to-end — form a hypothesis, design the experiment, run it, and discover something no human told it to look for? That question is equal parts thrilling and terrifying, and it’s what I work on.

I’m a fifth-year PhD student at Harvard, advised by Norman Yao, in the inaugural cohort of the Harvard Quantum Initiative’s Quantum Science and Engineering program, and a Harvard AI Fellow. I build AI systems that discover new materials and exotic phases of matter, and I use quantum computers and sensors to probe them. Beyond the PhD, I’ve been lucky to help build toward that vision of autonomous science at Periodic Labs from its early days — first full-time, then part-time.

Lublin 🇵🇱 → London 🇬🇧 → Cambridge 🇺🇸. Along the way: MSci Physics and MRes Quantum Technologies at UCL, research at the London Centre for Nanotechnology, and an MA in Quantum Science at Harvard.

Away from the whiteboard I lift, run, cycle, and get outside. I’m President of the Harvard GSAS Polish Student Association.

If you’re thinking about autonomous science, quantum many-body physics, or AI for materials, I’d like to hear from you.

Contact: dkufel [at] g.harvard.edu