Hung Q. Pham

Scientist + Tech Builder

Hung Q. Pham

AI + Science • Scientific Software • Quantum Chemistry

Hung Q. Pham

About

Science accelerates when AI meets deep domain expertise.

I build at that intersection — using modern deep learning techniques and agentic AI combined with ab initio high-fidelity data from quantum chemistry to reveal hidden chemical transformations that can drive progress in drug development, materials design, energy, and beyond.

Beyond fundamental research, I bring the same AI + Science mindset to real-world problems — building systems and models that integrate AI into different fields to boost productivity and efficiency. From agentic workflows to intelligent tools, if there's a way AI can make something faster, smarter, or more impactful, I want to build it.

Focus areas

AI

Generative Modeling for Chemistry

Drug discovery, materials, catalysis, energy

Accelerating downstream applications — drug discovery, materials design, catalysis, and energy solutions — by applying deep learning and generative models to quantum chemical data.

Deep Learning · Generative Models · Drug Discovery · Materials Design

Agentic AI

Workflows and intelligent tools

Building systems and models that integrate AI into different fields to boost productivity and efficiency — from agentic workflows to intelligent tools.

Agentic AI · Workflows · Tooling

Quantum Chemistry

GPU-Accelerated Quantum Chemistry ByteQC ↗

Simulation fast enough for industry

Making advanced simulation practical for real-world industrial applications beyond standard DFT, by rebuilding methods like the random phase approximation and quantum embedding to run on GPUs.

GPU · RPA · HPC

Quantum Embedding pDMET ↗

Catalysis, superconductors, quantum computing

Advancing quantum chemistry applications in catalysis, superconductors, and quantum computing through efficient, 1 kcal/mol-accurate ab initio simulation of strongly correlated and metallic systems, on classical and quantum platforms.

Python · C/C++ · Fortran · Linear Algebra

Quantum Monte Carlo

Large-scale AFQMC

Enabling scalable, chemically accurate quantum chemistry simulations for large systems — including strongly correlated molecules and metallic surfaces — with advanced AFQMC algorithms that leverage locality and modern GPUs.

AFQMC · GPU · Stochastic Methods

Novel Materials Design MCU ↗pyWannier90 ↗

Topological insulators, perovskites, MOFs, COFs

Investigating reticular frameworks, topological systems, and photovoltaics with periodic DFT, Wannier tight-binding models, and Grand Canonical Monte Carlo.

DFT · Wannier90 · GCMC

Software

Scientific packages

  1. Contributor ByteQC GPU-accelerated quantum chemistry for large-scale systems · CUDA
  2. Contributor PySCF Python-based simulations of chemistry · Python
  3. Contributor ipie Auxiliary-field quantum Monte Carlo · Python
  4. Lead pDMET Periodic density matrix embedding theory · Python
  5. Lead MCU Modeling and crystallographic utilities · Python
  6. Lead pyWannier90 Wannier90 interface for periodic systems · Python
  7. Lead FEMION Quantum embedding for metals, GPU random phase approximation · Internal · Paper ↗

Side projects

  1. Solo build My Raver Life Set-time planner for EDC Las Vegas 2026: lineup search, personal schedule, stage map, shared crew plans. ~5,100 users and 30,000 page views around the festival. · Web app

Experience

  1. March 2022 — Present ByteDance Research Scientist AI for science and quantum chemistry
  2. June 2021 — March 2022 Columbia University Postdoctoral Research Scientist Auxiliary-field quantum Monte Carlo for periodic solids Advisor: David Reichman
  3. Jan 2017 — May 2021 University of Minnesota, Twin Cities Research Assistant Electronic structure theory, quantum embedding, and materials design Advisor: Laura Gagliardi
  4. Oct 2011 — Jul 2015 MANAR & ICST, Ho Chi Minh City Research Assistant Periodic DFT, grand canonical Monte Carlo, and reticular chemistry for gas-storage materials Advisor: Nguyen-Nguyen Pham-Tran

Education

  1. Aug 2015 — May 2021 University of Minnesota, Twin Cities Ph.D. in Quantum Chemistry
  2. Sep 2007 — Sep 2011 VNUHCM - University of Science B.S. in Chemistry

Publications

  1. 2026 A Unified Generative Framework for Scalable Chemical Reaction Network Exploration Preprint · arXiv:2606.21002
  2. 2026 The Python Simulations of Chemistry Framework: 10 years of an open-source quantum chemistry project Preprint · arXiv:2603.14155
  3. 2025 A multi-resolution systematically improvable quantum embedding scheme for large-scale surface chemistry calculations Nature Communications
  4. 2025 ByteQC: GPU‐Accelerated Quantum Chemistry Package for Large‐Scale Systems WIREs Computational Molecular Science
  5. 2025 Neural Scaling Laws Surpass Chemical Accuracy for the Many-Electron Schrödinger Equation Preprint · arXiv:2508.02570
  6. 2025 Quantum Many-Body Simulations of Catalytic Metal Surfaces Preprint · arXiv:2508.13036
  7. 2024 Advancing Surface Chemistry with Large-Scale Ab-Initio Quantum Many-Body Simulations Preprint · arXiv:2412.18553
  8. 2024 GPU-accelerated Auxiliary-field quantum Monte Carlo with multi-Slater determinant trial states Preprint · arXiv:2406.08314
  9. 2024 Scalable Quantum Monte Carlo with Direct-Product Trial Wave Functions Journal of Chemical Theory and Computation
  10. 2023 Ab initio quantum simulation of strongly correlated materials with quantum embedding npj Computational Materials
  11. 2022 Twenty Years of Auxiliary-Field Quantum Monte Carlo in Quantum Chemistry: An Overview and Assessment on Main Group Chemistry and Bond-Breaking Journal of Chemical Theory and Computation
  12. 2021 Excited States of Crystalline Point Defects with Multireference Density Matrix Embedding Theory The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters
  13. 2021 Topological Insulating Phase in Single-Layer Pentagonal Covalent Organic Frameworks: A Reticular Design Using Metal Phthalocyanine Chemistry of Materials
  14. 2020 Periodic Electronic Structure Calculations with the Density Matrix Embedding Theory Journal of Chemical Theory and Computation
  15. 2020 Phosphorescent heteroleptic iridium(III) cyclometallates: Improved syntheses of acetylacetonate complexes and quantum chemical studies of their excited state properties Polyhedron
  16. 2020 Recent developments in the PySCF program package Preprint · arXiv:2002.12531
  17. 2019 Electron delocalization in single-layer phthalocyanine-based covalent organic frameworks: a first principle study RSC Advances
  18. 2019 Highly efficient phosphorescence from cyclometallated iridium(III) compounds: Improved syntheses of picolinate complexes and quantum chemical studies of their electronic structures Inorganica Chimica Acta
  19. 2019 Lead-free double perovskites Cs2InCuCl6 and (CH3NH3)2InCuCl6: electronic, optical, and electrical properties Nanoscale
  20. 2019 Periodic Electronic Structure Calculations With Density Matrix Embedding Theory Preprint · arXiv:1909.08783
  21. 2018 Can Density Matrix Embedding Theory with the Complete Activate Space Self-Consistent Field Solver Describe Single and Double Bond Breaking in Molecular Systems? Journal of Chemical Theory and Computation
  22. 2018 Computational Study of Structural and Electronic Properties of Lead-Free CsMI3 Perovskites (M = Ge, Sn, Pb, Mg, Ca, Sr, and Ba) The Journal of Physical Chemistry C
  23. 2015 Effect of chemical functionalization groups on Zr6-AzoBDC to enhance H2, CH4 storage and CO2 capture: A theoretical investigation Advances in Natural Sciences: Nanoscience and Nanotechnology
  24. 2015 Synthesis and Selective CO2 Capture Properties of a Series of Hexatopic Linker-Based Metal–Organic Frameworks Inorganic Chemistry
  25. 2015 Tailoring the Optical Absorption of Water-Stable ZrIV- and HfIV-Based Metal-Organic Framework Photocatalysts Chemistry - An Asian Journal
  26. 2014 Engineering of Band Gap in Metal–Organic Frameworks by Functionalizing Organic Linker: A Systematic Density Functional Theory Investigation The Journal of Physical Chemistry C