Growing up in the Bloomington, Illinois area as the son of two STEM professionals, Raj Kadiyala found himself following the same trajectory. “Competing in math and science contests was just the norm, frankly,” he said.
But when his family took weekend trips to Chicago, Kadiyala always thought it was “the cool place to be.”
Now, as software engineer looking to pivot in his career, he has a different view of the city: “If you want to study quantum, Chicago is the place to be,” he said. “It is very much a quantum hub.”
Since graduating with an undergraduate degree in interdisciplinary physics eight years ago, Kadiyala has worked in startups and at Google as a software engineer and product manager. But his first love — physics — was always calling back to him. “Physics helps you understand the world,” he said. “It’s a truth-seeking subject.”
Specifically, Kadiyala began to bend toward a career in quantum technology — a field that combined his computer science background with physics. To make the pivot, he joined the Master of Engineering program at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering to study quantum engineering and become part of the city’s burgeoning quantum ecosystem.
In the program, Kadiyala pursued the computational modeling track, taking both core courses on the commercialization of products and electives in areas such as quantum molecular modeling.
“I was immersed in quantum, learning from speakers from the industry who shared their experiences,” he said. But Kadiyala also took core courses with a wide group of students who were studying different tracks, including immunoengineering.
“I got a bird’s-eye view of other fields, including materials science and molecular engineering. It was very exciting,” he said. “I was already familiar with tech and AI, and now I understand how different techniques can be applied to problems across fields.”
Kadiyala, who worked as a product manager at Google while taking classes part-time, also pursued an MBA at UChicago’s Booth School of Business.
He hopes to return to the startup world, either as an employee at a quantum startup or perhaps as a founder in his own venture. The Master of Engineering program helped pave the path for his pivot to quantum.
“I highly recommend the program,” he said. “I tell all my software engineer friends who are interested in quantum to come here. It’s not only the program — Chicago also has the Chicago Quantum Exchange, Argonne National Laboratory, and Fermilab. It really is the best place to be for quantum.”