Renowned mathematician Subhash Khot joins IBM Research

Mathematics has always been the language of deep structure. It gives us a way to describe patterns, reason about complexity, and understand what is possible. It is also one of the foundations of modern computing. Every processor instruction, every algorithm, and every computational breakthrough ultimately rests on mathematical ideas about how information can be represented, transformed, optimized, and understood.

IBM has long been a leader in advancing the theoretical underpinnings of algorithms while also creating technologies that have changed the face of computing. One landmark example is the fast Fourier transform, first demonstrated at IBM Research, which transformed how information could be represented and processed. The FFT now underlies digital media standards such as JPEG and MPEG, supports wireless and cellular communications, powers speech and signal processing, and is used in medical imaging technologies such as MRI and CT reconstruction.

That kind of foundational research is central to IBM Research’s strategy, as computing enters a new era shaped by AI, quantum computing, and new hardware architectures. In this era, progress will require more than scaling existing systems. It will require new mathematical abstractions, new algorithmic ideas, and a deeper understanding of computation itself.

To accelerate progress on the theoretical foundations of this new era of computing, IBM Research has appointed Subhash Khot, one of the world’s leading theoretical computer scientists and mathematicians, as a senior mathematician.

Khot is best known for his work on the Unique Games Conjecture, one of the central conjectures in theoretical computer science. The conjecture has had a profound influence on computational complexity and approximation algorithms, helping researchers understand which optimization problems can be efficiently approximated, and which may be fundamentally hard to solve even approximately.

Khot’s work has earned some of the highest honors in mathematics and computer science. In 2010, he received the Alan T. Waterman Award, the United States’ highest honor for scientists under 40, for his work on the unique games conjecture. He was awarded the IMU Abacus Medal by the International Mathematical Union in 2014, received a MacArthur Fellowship in 2016, and is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and a Fellow of the Royal Society. Khot is joining IBM Research from Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences at New York University, where he is the Julius Silver Professor of Computer Science.

“Subhash is one of the great mathematicians working at the intersection of algorithms, complexity, and computation,” said IBM Research Chief Scientist Ruchir Puri. “The future of computing will be built on deep algorithmic and mathematical ideas, and bringing Subhash to IBM Research is a major step in strengthening that foundation.”

IBM’s leadership in quantum computing was one of the key factors that drew Khot to IBM Research. After a recent visit to the company’s research headquarters in Yorktown Heights, New York, he was struck by the depth of talent and ideas across IBM’s quantum team, as well as the seriousness with which the company is pursuing the long-term scientific foundations of the field.

Quantum computing is still in its early stages, but realizing its full potential will require more than advances in hardware alone. It will require new theory, new algorithms, and new ways of connecting mathematical insight to emerging quantum systems.

“Subhash’s arrival reflects the seriousness of our commitment to foundational research,” Jay Gambetta, IBM Fellow and director of IBM Research, said. “We are investing in the theory of computing as a pillar of IBM Research’s future, and this is just the beginning.”