I'm currently a PhD student at Caltech, where I'm fortunate to be co-advised by John Preskill and Fernando Brandão. I completed my bachelor's in physics and math at MIT in 2023.

I'm broadly interested in the intersection of information theory and quantum many-body physics, particularly in ways of characterizing quantum complexity.

In addition, I am committed to increasing access to opportunities in STEM, especially for students from nontraditional backgrounds.

For more on my work, see my CV (last updated Sept 2025) or check out the highlights below!

+ more about me


lcui (at) caltech (dot) edu

305 east bridge

1200 e. california blvd mc 103-33

* I pronounce my last name like the word "sway". You can also find a pronunciation guide here.



Selected publications and preprints

Feel free to also check Google Scholar for an up-to-date list of posted papers.

* these authors contributed equally to the work

[3]

Random unitaries from Hamiltonian dynamics

LC, Thomas Schuster, Liang Mao, Hsin-Yuan (Robert) Huang, and Fernando Brandão, 2025

pdf   arxiv

[2]

Random unitaries that conserve energy

Liang Mao, LC, Thomas Schuster, and Hsin-Yuan (Robert) Huang, 2025

pdf   arxiv

[1]

Unitary designs in nearly optimal depth

LC,* Thomas Schuster,* Fernando Brandão, and Hsin-Yuan (Robert) Huang, 2025

pdf   arxiv

Highlighted teaching and outreach

[3]

Caltech FUTURE of Physics

I co-chaired the 2025 iteration of FUTURE, a workshop designed to help undergraduate students navigate the graduate school application process.

[2]

18.S097: Proof-Writing Workshop

I helped organize a proofs workshop which was offered as a 3-unit class during MIT's Independent Activities Period in January 2021. You can find my lecture notes here, or see the course website for the rest of the materials.

[1]

HMMT Education

I gave a talk for high school students at the February and November 2021 iterations of HMMT (formerly known as the Harvard-MIT Mathematics Tournament) on quantum mechanics and information theory. My slides are available here.