Timothy Zaklama

Timothy Zaklama

Physics PhD Candidate at MIT. AI for quantum matter & strongly correlated systems.

Welcome

Timothy Zaklama

Hi there, I’m Tim – and I’m so glad you’re here! Welcome to my website. Whether you stumbled upon this page by accident, were sent here by a friend, or are just curious about what I’m up to, I’m genuinely happy you stopped by. Feel free to contact me with any inquiries, to provide any feedback, or simply to just introduce yourself!

As an exciting side note, my lab is starting a company, feel free to check it out!

A Little About Me

I’m a PhD candidate in condensed matter theory at MIT, working in Liang Fu’s group on AI for quantum matter and strongly correlated systems. I am very interested in developing AI models to push the frontiers of science and technology. My recent work includes building the first AI foundation model to learn the full quantum wavefunction across multiple numbers of particles, and the first foundation model for electronic systems from first principles using transformer architecture.

Before grad school, I spent two years as a quantitative trader at IMC Financial Markets, where I built autonomous algorithmic strategies for index options across the S&P 500, Nasdaq, and Russell 2000. I developed the first position taking algorithm to generate over $1MM in its first month in production, and to be generalized across every major desk in the Chicago office.

I’m passionate about mentorship and teaching – I currently serve as Head TA for Statistical Mechanics at MIT, lead mentor for the MIT Physics Mentorship Program, and helped coach the Ivory Coast’s math olympiad team to a record number of gold medals at the Africa Olympiad Competition.

I’ve organized this site into a few sections so you can easily find what interests you most. Here’s a quick guide to what you’ll find in each tab at the top:

  • Publications – This is where you’ll find my academic research. My work has been published in Physical Review X, Physical Review B, Physical Review E, and Few-Body Systems, spanning topics from fractional electron states in twisted semiconductors to self-attention neural networks for correlated electron problems. If you’re a fellow researcher or just curious about the science, feel free to send me a message!

  • Teaching – Teaching and mentorship are close to my heart. Here you can find details about my teaching roles, including my work as Head TA for Statistical Mechanics at MIT.

  • Lessons – This one is personal and probably my favorite page on this site. Over the years, I’ve collected life lessons from mentors, friends, books, and my own experiences. They’ve helped me become a better version of myself, and I hope they might do the same for you. Take what resonates and leave the rest.

  • CV – If you’d like the full picture of my academic and professional journey – education, work experience, skills, awards, and more – it’s all here.

Thanks again for visiting. I hope you find something here that inspires you, makes you think, or simply brightens your day. Don’t hesitate to reach out – I’d love to hear from you!

Research Interests

  • AI foundation models for quantum matter
  • Strongly correlated electron systems
  • Moire materials and twisted bilayer semiconductors
  • Self-attention neural networks for condensed matter physics

Education

  • Ph.D. in Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2022 – 2027)
  • B.A. in Mathematics and Physics, Vanderbilt University (2016 – 2020)
  • Study Abroad in Mathematics and Economics, UCL, London (Spring 2019)