SQMS Center

Alexander Romanenko

Alexander Romanenko

Alexander Romanenko

Quantum Technology Thrust Leader
Devices Focus Area Lead
3D QPU, Lead

Chief Project Executive, Fermilab

Alexander Romanenko is a Fermilab Senior Scientist, serving as Chief Project Executive in the Applied Physics and Superconducting Technology Division (APSTD), and Technology Thrust Leader of the SQMS Center. He provides leadership in planning, directing and overseeing activities of superconducting radio frequency (SRF) technology for accelerators, quantum and other applications. He is the founder and leader of the first Fermilab material science laboratory and of the first experimental superconducting quantum labs which paved the way for the creation of the SQMS Center. He is a worldwide renown expert in the field of radio frequency superconductivity and his scientific achievements include the discovery of magnetic flux expulsion and retention in SRF cavities as a function of the cooling rate, the mechanisms behind nitrogen doping, the niobium oxide dissolution method to achieve world’s leading quality factors in the quantum regime, and other critical contributions. He is responsible for organizing, implementing and reporting on the activities established to support the laboratory’s mission in the assigned science and technology areas in APS-TD and SQMS, ensuring the achievement of short- and long-range goals and objectives, as well as providing input for the lab’s technical vision for the future. He has served in various leadership and management roles at the laboratory including FNAL Chief Technology Officer and Head of the APSTD.

Romanenko is a senior scientist at the lab, holds a Ph.D. in physics from Cornell University and joined Fermilab in 2009 with the prestigious Peoples Fellowship. His scientific work has been recognized by several national and international awards, including the 2022 IEEE Particle Accelerator Science and Technology Award, the 2017 USPAS prize for achievement in accelerator physics and technology, the 2011 DOE Early Career Award, the 2011 IEEE PAST Doctoral dissertation award and several other awards and recognitions.