Mehrdad Tahmasbi

Mehrdad Tahmasbi is a researcher in quantum information theory and cryptography. He earned a PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering and an MS in Mathematics from Georgia Institute of Technology (2015-2020), after bachelor's degrees in Mathematics and Electrical Engineering from Sharif University of Technology (2010-2014). He held postdoctoral positions at Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica (2020-2022), Tufts University (2022-2023), and University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (2023-2025). Since 2025 he has been a Researcher at Renaissance Technologies LLC.

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• Quant employment verification: CONFIRMED. Mehrdad Tahmasbi holds a current Researcher role at Renaissance Technologies LLC (rentec.com), the systematic quantitative hedge fund founded by James Simons, per his LinkedIn profile as read by index enrichment (title 'Researcher', dates 2025-present, company domain rentec.com). The role is an actual paid research position, not a student program. Identity is supported by the matching education history (Georgia Tech PhD/MS, Sharif University bachelor's) and the quantum-information publication record under the same name; Renaissance Technologies is independently confirmed as a quantitative investment manager by its own website and Wikipedia. Caveat: the Renaissance employment itself rests on LinkedIn-index data (not an independent primary-source page), so the classification of the employer as quantitative finance is solid while the specific role is index-sourced.2025
• Pre-Renaissance career was entirely academic: postdoctoral researcher at Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica (CWI), Amsterdam 2020-2022; Tufts University 2022-2023; University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign 2023-2025 (TCS@Illinois theory group / IQUIST). This is a five-year postdoc-to-industry transition, with the Renaissance role starting in 2025.2025
• Education: PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering (2015-2020) and MS in Mathematics from Georgia Institute of Technology, plus an MS in ECE; bachelor's degrees in Mathematics and Electrical Engineering from Sharif University of Technology (2010-2014). Dates are from LinkedIn-index enrichment.2020
• Research focus is quantum information theory and cryptography: covert quantum communication/sensing, uncloneable encryption, quantum copy-protection, and stabilizer rank/stabilizer-complexity testing. Publications include STOC 2024 and STOC 2025 papers co-authored with Saeed Mehraban.Oct 31, 2024
• Olympiad identity: Mehrdad Tahmasbi represented Iran at the International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI) 2010, winning a Silver medal with a score of 631/820 (rank 65), per the Competitive Programming Hall of Fame and IOI statistics pages.Aug 21, 2010
• Doctoral advisor at Georgia Tech was Matthieu R. Bloch; Tahmasbi's GT research page under bloch.ece.gatech.edu lists multiple joint papers on covert quantum sensing and covert communication.2021
• Gave a talk 'Stimulability and Testability of Quantum States through an Algebraic Lens' in the PILOT Seminar series at UIUC on 2025-03-07.Mar 7, 2025
• Received the ECE Graduate Research Assistant Excellence Award at Georgia Tech (2020-2021), alongside Hakki Mert Torun.2021
• LinkedIn lists 301 connections and 310 followers; profile image hosted at cdn.mixrank.com. No public X/Twitter, GitHub, or personal website was found linking to this researcher.2026