IFISC People: Josu Blanco, Sreetama Das and Javier Osca

We are pleased to introduce Josu Blanco, Sreetama Das and Javier Osca to the rest of the IFISC members.

Josu Blanco, originally from Donostia-San Sebastian, holds a degree in Physics from the University of Cantabria and a Master's degree in Plasma Physics and Nuclear Fusion from the University of Aix-Marseille. During his master's degree, he stayed at the Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique (CEA) in Cadarache, France, where he focused on hybrid fluid-kinetic simulations of plasma-wall interactions. At IFISC, Josu will work under the supervision of José Javier Ramasco and Massimiliano Zanin, where he will study delay propagation in aviation networks, taking advantage of his expertise in complex system dynamics, simulation methods and his knowledge in air traffic management.

Sreetama Das obtained her PhD in theoretical quantum information and computation from Harish-Chandra Research Institute (India). Following that, she worked as a postdoctoral researcher at LMU (Munich, Germany) from 2020 to 2021. She was a recipient of MCQST (Munich Center for Quantum Science and Technology) Distinguished Postdoc 2020 fellowship. Next, she was a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Florence (Italy) and CNR-INO (Italy) from 2021 to 2024. In these years, she has carried out research on quantum image processing and quantum machine learning using variational quantum circuits. At IFISC, she will be working in collaboration with Roberta Zambrini, Gian-Luca Giorgi and Gonzalo Manzano on the topics of analog approaches to quantum machine learning and various aspects of quantum thermodynamics. Her research interests are to explore the possibility of performing quantum reservoir computing using different types of quantum systems, quantum associative memory-based pattern recognition, and investigating the role of quantum resources in quantum thermodynamical tasks.

Javier Osca obtained his PhD at the University of the Balearic Islands, doing research on Majorana modes at IFISC. His thesis was entitled “Majorana Physics in Hybrid Nanowires, Topological Phases, and Transport”. After completing his PhD, he did a postdoc at IMEC, Leuven (Belgium), within the Skytop project, where he investigated the transport of skyrmions in devices based on topological insulators and Weyl-Skyrmion systems. Subsequently, he held another postdoctoral position at the Tyndall National Institute, Cork (Ireland), representing Maynooth University, in the QCoIr project. During this project, he developed the SOQCS library, a tool to simulate quantum optical circuits in the presence of imperfections typical of experiments. Currently, Javier is Assistant Professor Doctor (PAS) at UIB, attached to IFISC, and works on the MAGMA project, which explores the use of magnetic topological insulators for the creation of robust Majorana states.