Joshua Quinton

Joshua Quinton

Doctoral Candidate at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Troy, New York, United States

About

I am a doctoral candidate at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute researching theoretical condensed matter physics. My work focuses on quantum computing, spintronics, and the development of novel computational methods for understanding material properties at the atomic scale. I leverage machine learning techniques and high-performance computing to advance our understanding of quantum systems.

Education

Doctor of Philosophy in Physics Graduated May 2026

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, School of Science

Bachelor of Science in Physics with Distinction Graduated May 2019

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

Employment

Graduate Research Assistant May 2021 - Present

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York

  • Develop new methods for modelling spin dynamics and transport in semiconductors and metals
  • Contribute new features to open source density functional theory software, QimPy (see qimpy.org)
  • Developer for the BEAST electrocatalysis database at NREL (see beastdb.nrel.gov)
  • Research duties span multiple grants/projects and subfields including spin dynamics, electrocatalysis, and machine learned density functional theory approaches
  • Extensive experience with government and academic supercomputing resources for science, including allocation proposals, reporting, and orchestrating workloads in HPC environments
Graduate Teaching Assistant Aug 2020 - May 2021

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York

  • Teaching and grading for undergraduate courses, including Physics 1, Honors Physics 2, Quantum Physics 1, and Experimental Physics
  • Received the Walter Eppenstein Award in May 2021, awarded annually to a graduate teaching assistant recognized for excellent teaching
Co-Founder Jul 2016 - Present

Posed By a Pro LLC, Salt Lake City, Utah

  • Develop an Android application which assists the user in posing photographs with a smartphone
  • Work extensively with Java, the Android Software Development Kit, and Flutter for developing cross-platform software (iOS/Android)
  • Coordinate with a photography expert to design a proprietary method for composing photographs
  • Submitted U.S. Patent 15857490 as co-inventor of relevant methodology
Software Development Engineer II May 2019 - Jul 2020

University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, Utah

  • Maintain the proprietary web application which manages the admissions and records department for the School of Medicine
  • Develop full-stack web applications and use containerized (Docker) workflows for deployment
  • Collaborate with university admissions to identify user experience improvements
  • Research and collaborate with a team of developers using a Git-based source-control workflow
  • Created a cross-platform (iOS/Android) app for conveniently accessing School of Medicine resources on smartphones
Computer Operator May 2015 - May 2019

University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, Utah

Publications

Magnetic-field dependence of spin-phonon relaxation and dephasing due to g-factor fluctuations from first principles March 5, 2025

Physical Review B

Quantum computing and spintronics applications require the discovery of new materials with improved spin dynamics properties. This paper develops new methods for modeling spin dynamics in materials from first principles, incorporating spin-phonon interactions and dephasing due to momentum-dependent g-factors. These methods can help discover better materials for spin-based engineering and research, such as spin transistors and CMOS qubits.

BEAST DB: Grand-Canonical Database of Electrocatalyst Properties November 18, 2024

The Journal of Physical Chemistry C

We develop a database of surface calculations for important catalysis pathways intended for machine learning workflows.

Bridging electronic and classical density-functional theory using universal machine-learned functional approximations October 8, 2024

Journal of Chemical Physics

We develop a new universal machine learning method for learning nonlocal functionals and apply it to a variety of problems, including classical and electronic density functional theory, the inhomogeneous Ising model, and liquid water. This single model shows excellent agreement for all.

Machine Learning-Aided Band Gap Engineering of BaZrS3 Chalcogenide Perovskite April 4, 2023

ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces

Evaluation of Machine Learning Models for Classifying Upper Extremity Exercises Using Inertial Measurement Unit-Based Kinematic Data June 4, 2020

IEEE Journal of Biomedical and Health Informatics

Projects

BEAST Database March 2024 - Present

I am the frontend developer for the BEAST electrocatalysis database: https://beastdb.nrel.gov This is a project hosted by the National Renewable Energy Lab which uses high-throughput density functional theory calculations to produce a large amount of data useful for electrocatalysis applications. This data is available to the public and intended to be used by machine-learning pipelines for materials screening and design.

Frontend Development Density Functional Theory Machine Learning
QimPy September 2022 - Present

QimPy is a Python package for Quantum-Integrated Multi-PhYsics, which can perform density functional theory calculations for electronic structure, ab-initio molecular dynamics, and spin transport and dynamics calculations. QimPy uses PyTorch for performance-intensive mathematical tasks in order to leverage increasing support for Artificial Intelligence geared architecture in high performance computing facilities. As such, it supports massively parallel GPU and CPU calculations over MPI.

Python PyTorch Quantum Mechanics High Performance Computing

Patents

Displaying a Subject Composition April 28, 2020

Patent No. 15857490

Technique for Displaying Subjects in a Composition

Awards

Walter Eppenstein Award May 2021

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

The Walter Eppenstein Award recognizes excellence in graduate teaching based on student evaluations and recommendations from professors. I received this award as a teaching assistant for RPI physics courses during 2020 and 2021.