Kathrin Spendier's Unusual Career Path from Academia to Quantinuum to the XPRIZE
October 28, 2025
Our former Bachelors and PhD student Kathrin Spendier is profiled in a Q&A article in September's issue of Physics Today.
After graduating from UNM with a PhD, working in Prof. Jim Thomas' lab, she eventually became a faculty member at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs for about 10 years.
In 2022 she left academia and joined the quantum computing startup Quantinuum, switching specialties from biophotonics to quantum computing.
After two years there, she moved to XPRIZE, which is a non-profit that runs award competitions to find innovative solutions to societal problems. There she runs its competition in quantum applications.
We also remember her passion and remarkable talent for skiing! During her time here, she helped UNM win a national ski championship.
We're always interested to keep up with the unique career paths of our graduates!
