Gretchen Campbell

Gretchen K. Campbell (born c. 1980) is an American atomic, molecular, and optical physicist associated with the National Institute of Standards and Technology. She works in the field of atomtronics and has received awards in recognition of her research contributions on Bose-Einstein condensates. She is currently on detail to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (WHOSTP), where she is the Assistant Director for Quantum Information Science at WHOSTP, and Director of the National Quantum Coordination Office (NQCO).

Early life and education Campbell was raised in western New York state and was curious about science from a young age. She attended Wellesley College for her undergraduate degree, initially intending to train as a veterinarian. However, first-year physics lectures by Glenn Stark and lab mentorship from Theodore W. Ducas shifted her interest toward physics. In particular, she enjoyed the physics problem-solving approach which encouraged logic and reasoning rather than memorisation. She graduated from Wellesley in 2001, then moved to MIT for her PhD. She studied Bose-Einstein condensates in optical lattices and related quantum phase transitions. She finished her degree in 2007 under the supervision of Wolfgang Ketterle and David Pritchard. She is part of the Laser Cooling and Trapping group and the Quantum Measurement Division. Campbell manages two laboratories through the JQI collaboration, one at NIST and one on the university campus.

Campbell currently works in atomtronics, an emerging research area into circuitry based on a flow of atoms rather than electrons. She is a leader in the field, with experiments showing promise for applications in sensing or quantum computers. Her contributions have included designing a weak link as an additional circuit component and observation of hysteresis effects.

Campbell mentors young scientists and manages a group for women in physics at the JQI. She was involved in the 2020 Conference for Undergraduate Women in Physics which took place there. 2015 Finalist, Emerging Leaders category of the Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medals. She "advanced the emerging field of physics known as atomtronics, paving the way for a new generation of technologies much like electronics has transformed our society today." 2015 IUPAP Young Scientist Prize. 2015 Maria Goeppert Mayer Award "for her pioneering contributions to the study of superfluidity in atomic gas Bose-Einstein condensates using ring-shaped condensates, realizing atomic analogs to superconducting and superfluid liquid circuitry, including the use of weak links to create the first closed circuit atomtronic devices." 2012 Arthur S. Flemming Award. 2012 PECASE Award. 2008 Finalist DAMOP thesis prize of the American Physical Society. 2006 Martin Deutsch Prize For Excellence in Experimental Physics, MIT. 2005 OSA New Focus/Bookham Student Award. 2001 Phyllis Fleming Physics Prize.

Personal life Campbell has a daughter who was born in 2015.