CV
Basics
| Name | Volkan Gurses |
| [email protected] · [email protected] | |
| Url | https://volkangurses.com |
| Summary | Recent PhD in Electrical Engineering and Physics from Caltech, Postdoctoral Researcher at MIT/Caltech, and Visiting Researcher at NVIDIA; founder of Foundation. I study the fundamental physical limits of information technologies and build integrated systems that approach them. |
Work
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2026.06 - Present Postdoctoral Researcher
Massachusetts Institute of Technology / California Institute of Technology
Studying the fundamental physical limits of technologies and building integrated systems that approach these limits.
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2026.06 - Present Founder and CEO
Foundation Silicon, Inc.
Building a semiconductor IP platform toward universal compute.
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2025.09 - Present Visiting Researcher
NVIDIA
Investigating the fundamental physical limits of computing and benchmarking current state-of-the-art against these limits.
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2025.06 - 2025.09 Research Intern
NVIDIA
Developed next-generation computer architectures, processors and interconnects for high-performance computing workloads. Investigated interfaces between classical and quantum computers.
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2025.01 - Present Founder and CEO
Matterware, Inc.
Founded an AI for chip design startup leveraging Fourier neural operators and large language models to accelerate chip design workflows. Raised >$500k in funding and placed third in the Caltech Entrepreneurship Prize (Bill Gross Business Plan Competition).
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2020.09 - 2026.06 Graduate Research Assistant
California Institute of Technology
Caltech Holistic Integrated Circuits Group, PI: Ali Hajimiri. Led projects in integrated photonics and electronics for quantum information science and high-performance computing.
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2017.01 - 2020.09 Undergraduate Research Assistant
Georgia Institute of Technology
Worked across four research groups (PIs: Hua Wang, Morris Cohen, Gregory Durgin, Lukas Graber) on mm-Wave circuits, low-frequency remote sensing, phased array transceivers, and high-voltage disconnect switches.
Education
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2022.09 - 2026.06 Pasadena, CA
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2020.09 - 2022.06 Pasadena, CA
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2016.08 - 2020.05 Atlanta, GA
Awards
- 2026.04
Caltech Entrepreneurship Prize — First Place
California Institute of Technology
First place in the Bill Gross Business Plan Competition, with Foundation Silicon.
- 2025.12
Rising Star
Cell Press
- 2025.04
Caltech Entrepreneurship Prize — Third Place
California Institute of Technology
Third place in the Bill Gross Business Plan Competition, with Matterware.
- 2024.09
Broadcom Innovation Fund
California Institute of Technology
- 2023.01
Carver Mead New Adventures Fund
California Institute of Technology
- 2022.10
Google Ph.D. Fellowship Nominee
California Institute of Technology
- 2022.07
Microsoft Research Ph.D. Fellowship Nominee
California Institute of Technology
- 2020.08
R. David Middlebrook Graduate Fellowship
California Institute of Technology
- 2020.04
Tau Beta Pi Fellowship
Tau Beta Pi
- 2020.03
Caltech EAS Division Fellowship
California Institute of Technology
- 2020.03
Roger P. Webb Undergraduate Research Award
Georgia Institute of Technology
- 2020.02
IEEE MTT-S Scholarship
IEEE MTT-S
- 2015.09
European Union Contest for Young Scientists, CERN Special Donated Prize
European Commission / CERN
Talks
- 2025.12
- 2025.12
- 2025.10
- 2025.06
NVIDIA Research
Invited seminar: Integrated photonic-electronic systems for classical and quantum information processing
- 2024.08
Caltech EE Seminar Series
Invited talk: Integrated optoelectronic systems for wireless quantum technologies
Skills
| Research Areas | |
| Integrated circuits | |
| Quantum information | |
| High-performance computing | |
| Machine learning |