Jalen L. Garner

Assisting in delivering instructional support, grading assignments, and facilitating classroom activities to enhance student learning and engagement.

Teaching Assistant - The University of Maryland

(2024-08 - 2025-07)

Assisting in delivering instructional support, grading assignments, and facilitating classroom activities to enhance student learning and engagement.

• Physics 260: General Physics - Electricity, Magnetism and Thermodynamics
• Physics 261: Vibrations, Waves, Heat, Electricity & Magnetism: Laboratory
• Hold regular office hours to provide individualized support, clarify course material, and assist students with assignments and exam preparation

Quantum Device Measurement, Lab Assistant - Laboratory for Physical Sciences

(2023-07 - 2024-05)

• Testing of superconducting resonators using different doping concentrations of superconducting alloys
• Development of codebase for RF instrumentation and device testing protocols

Qiskit Development Team, Seasonal Employee - Error Corp

(2022-06)

Spearheading the testing and implementation of novel error-robust single-qubit quantum logic gates on IBM Quantum hardware via the cloud-based Qiskit software kit.

• Deepened my programming skills in Python and Linux command line and learned Qiskit through the design and benchmarking of experimental protocols
• Gained valuable industry experience and knowledge regarding quantum optimal control and error correction through investigations of current IBM hardware capabilities and several informative meetings with the start-up company CEO

Undergraduate Research Scholars Program, Member - IBM-HBCU Quantum Center

(2021-08 - 2023-05)

First-of-a-kind cohort-based research collaboration between 23 Historically Black Colleges and Universities to prepare students for careers in quantum computing and provide quantum computing educational resources and support.

• Attend monthly research review meetings with IBM Quantum Center Leadership to discuss progress on research, participate in rotating lightning presentations and collaborate with other Quantum Center students
• Establish connections to the national quantum research community through the development of working relationships with IBM faculty, attending conferences, and submitting publications in Quantum Information Science & Engineering related journals

Quantum Materials Modeling Laboratory, Lab Member - Howard University, IBM-HBCU Quantum Center

(2020-08 - 2023-05)

Mission is to predict, study and understand the electronic structure of new quantum states in novel quantum materials, such as non-magnetic topological insulators, topological magnets, etc.

• Developing an understanding of the connection between the magnetic ordering and topological and superconducting properties of the [MnBi2Te4 + nBi2Te3] and UTe2 materials, respectively, and their relation to quantum hardware technologies
• Probing the mechanical properties and band structure of UTe2 as a function of tensile and compressive strain

Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship, Research Intern - NIST

(2021-05 - 2021-08)

The basis for a 2-year independent research project under the National Institute of Standards and Technology Materials Measurement Laboratory and IBM to develop new models for understanding superconducting materials and their applications.

• Rendered an accurate 3-D model of the crystal Uranium Ditelluride
• Utilized Quantum Espresso to complete DFT-U calculations to gather data on the electronic properties of Uranium and Tellurium systems

Maximizing Student Potential Program (MSP), Research Intern - NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory

(2020-07 - 2020-09)

• Examined photographs taken from the High-Resolution Imaging Spectrometer Experiment (HiRISE) camera to identify the starting ends of dune fields that appeared analogous to studied terrestrial fields
• Cataloged the complexity of ripple orientation on martian protodunes, as well as shapes, to determine stability or instability in forming dunes as a result of wind
• Suggested that increased wind variability is positive for destabilization in martian protodunes leading to fewer dune formations in these areas

(MSP) Student Mission Development, Research Intern - NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory

(2020-07 - 2020-08)

Assisted in the research and development of a 2-year mock mission to Mars, which was designed to investigate martian wind speeds based on aerosol position and volume.

• Worked with JPL Engineers to study orbital mechanics & determine the necessary orbit for a constellation of 3 satellites
• Modeled a real-time 3-D simulation of three CubeSats orbiting Mars using the Systems Tool Kit (STK) software application

M.S. - Physics - The University of Maryland, College Park (2025-06)

B.S. - Physics - Howard University (2023-05)