Kovacs Lab: Complex Systems

Postdoctoral Researchers:

The lab of Professor István Kovács in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Northwestern University is looking for exceptional postdoctoral associates with a strong publication record and synergistic ideas that fit into our group’s interests in the areas of complex systems, statistical physics, network science, systems biology, neuroscience and heterogeneous quantum systems. We are seeking motivated individuals with a strong quantitative background with a PhD in physics, mathematics, computer science, bioinformatics or a related field. The ideal candidate has experience in at least one of the following fields: renormalization group techniques, Monte Carlo methods, information theory, disordered systems, systems biology, neural networks, network science or graph theory, machine learning.

We believe in diversity as a driving force of excellence. Therefore, we strongly encourage members of underrepresented groups to apply.

There are additional openings for postdoctoral researchers with external funding. If you are interested in a position, please send István the following:

(i) a current CV with publication list, 
(ii) a brief statement of research interests, and 
(iii) two letters of recommendation sent separately.

Graduate students:

Current Northwestern graduate students should contact István to schedule a meeting. 

Undergraduate students:

Northwestern undergraduates who are interested in gaining computational research experience should contact István. We are looking for committed students who are looking forward to engage with their project for multiple quarters, towards a publication.

Kate Flint (high school student, 2025) ETHS

Will Engedal (Undergraduate Student, 2023-2025) Supported by the NU SURG in 2023, Scholar in Physics & Astronomy Award 2023, Supported by the NU Baker Faculty Research Grant in 2024, Junior Career Award in Physics and Astronomy 2024, Senior Career Award in Physics and Astronomy 2025, Member of Phi Beta Kappa 2025, Phi Beta Kappa Centennial Prize 2025, NSF GRFP 2025. Physics and Astronomy honors thesis: “Contact Process with Local Adaptation”. Next position: PhD student at University of Washington. W. T. Engedal*, R. Juhász* and I. A. Kovács, Activity propagation with Hebbian learning [arXiv]

Leo Bilder (Undergraduate Student, 2022-2025) Supported by WCAS SURG in 2022, Member of Phi Beta Kappa. Physics and Astronomy honors thesis: “The Impact of Homomerizing Proteins on the Interactome”. Next position: PhD student at UCLA

Juan Barrera Lopez (Undergraduate Student, 2023-2025) Supported by the NU SURG in 2023, sponsored by the Hung-Farinelli Family, Fletcher URG Prize for the most outstanding 2023 Summer URG project in science and engineering, Scholar in Physics & Astronomy Award 2024. L. V. Luzzatto, J. F. Barrera López and I. A. Kovács, Multicritical infection spreading [arXiv]

Xiangyi Meng (Research Associate, 2023-2024) Next position: Assistant Professor at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Publications: X. Meng, N. Lo Piparo, K. Nemoto and I. A. Kovács, Quantum networks enhanced by distributed quantum memories [arXiv]; X. Meng*, B. Hao*, B. Ráth and I. A. Kovács (2025) Path percolation in quantum communication networks  Physical Review Letters, 134, 030803 [arXiv]

Bingjie Hao (Physics PhD student, defended in 2023; Postdoctoral Researcher, 2023-2024) Next position: data scientist. PhD Dissertation: Understanding the wiring mechanisms of complex networks through maximum entropy ensembles Publications: X. Meng*, B. Hao*, B. Ráth and I. A. Kovács (2025) Path percolation in quantum communication networks, Physical Review Letters, 134, 030803 [arXiv]; B. Hao and I. A. Kovács (2024) Proper network randomization is key to assessing social balance, Science Advances, 10, eadj0104 [arXiv]; B. Hao and I. A. Kovács (2023) A positive statistical benchmark to assess network agreement, Nat. Commun., 14, 2988 [bioRxiv] featured in the Editor’s Highlights of “Applied physics and mathematics”; B. Hao, E. Platnick and I. A. Kovács, Social balance in directed networks, Communications Physics, 8, 299 [arXiv]; W. I. Nawrocka*, S. Cheng*, B. Hao*, M. Rosen, E. Cortés, E. Baltrusaitis, Z. Aziz, I. A. Kovács and E. Özkan, Nematode extracellular protein interactome expands connections between signaling pathways [bioRxiv]

Mingyuan Wang (Undergraduate Student, 2024) Supported by the WCAS Summer Research Grant

Will Bruner (Undergraduate Student, 2024) Supported by WCAS Summer Research Grant

Pratyush Rallapally (NITMB SURP Intern 2024) University of California, Santa Barbara

Charlotte Wishnack (NITMB SURP Intern 2024) Williams College

Anastasiya Salova (Postdoctoral Researcher, 2021-2024) Next position: Postdoctoral Researcher at ESAM, Northwestern University. Publication: A. Salova and I. A. Kovács (2024) Combined topological and spatial constraints are required to capture the structure of neural connectomes Network Neuroscience, 1-41, doi:  https://doi.org/10.1162/netn_a_00428 [arXiv]

Kyle Soni (Undergraduate Student, 2021-2024) Supported by WCAS SURG in 2022 and 2023

Andrew Li (Undergraduate Student, 2022-2024) 

Helen Ansell (Postdoctoral Researcher, 2021-2023) Next position: Tarbutton Fellow at Emory University. Publications: Jay S. Zou, Helen S. Ansell and I. A. Kovács (2022) Multipartite entanglement in the random Ising chain, Phys. Rev. B 106, 054201 [arXiv]. H. S. Ansell and I. A. Kovács, Unveiling universal aspects of the cellular anatomy of the brain, Communications Physics, 7, 184 [arXiv]. H. S. Ansell, S. J. Frank, I. A. Kovács, Cluster tomography in percolation, Phys. Rev. Research, 5, 043218 [arXiv]. 

Jay Zou (Undergraduate Student, 2020-2023) Supported by WCAS SURG in 2021, Honorable Mention for the Computing Research Association’s (CRA) Outstanding Undergraduate Researcher Award for 2022, Outstanding Undergraduate Achievement in Graduate Coursework 2022, elected to Phi Beta Kappa. Next position: PhD student at Yale. Publication: Jay S. Zou, Helen S. Ansell and I. A. Kovács (2022) Multipartite entanglement in the random Ising chain, Phys. Rev. B 106, 054201 [arXiv], ISP honors thesis 2023: Multipartite entanglement in the random Ising chain

Sam Jacob Frank (Undergraduate Student, 2020-2023) Supported by the Baker Faculty grant in 2020 & 2021, GEN LA 290: Summer Research, Next position: PhD student at Northeastern University. Publication: H. S. Ansell, S. J. Frank, I. A. Kovács (2023) Cluster tomography in percolation Phys. Rev. Research, 5, 043218 [arXiv] ISP honors thesis 2023: Counting clusters: Investigating universality in critical percolation.

Gabriel Augustynowicz (Undergraduate Student, 2021-2023) Supported by the Baker Faculty grant in 2022, Outstanding Junior in Physics and Astronomy 2022, Junior Career Award in Mathematics 2022, elected to Phi Beta Kappa, Next position: PhD student at Stony Brook. Physics and Astronomy honors thesis 2023: Intuitive network visualization via the convex linear visualization method 

Kathleen Carrasco (high school student, 2022-2023) ETHS

Chana Lyubich (Undergraduate Student, 2023) Supported by the NU SURG in 2023, Scholar in Physics & Astronomy Award 2023

Ravi Chepuri (Undergraduate Student, 2019-2022) Supported by the Baker Faculty grant in 2020, GEN LA 290: Summer Research, and by NU SURG-Advanced in 2021, Outstanding Sophomore in Physics and Astronomy 2020, Outstanding Junior in Physics and Astronomy 2021, Fletcher URG Prize for the most outstanding 2021 Summer URG project in science and engineering. Next position: PhD student at the University of Maryland. ISP honors thesis 2022: A scalable architecture towards complex quantum communication networks, R. T. C. Chepuri and I. A. Kovács (2023) Complex quantum network models from spin clusters, Communications Physics, 6, 271 [arXiv]

Arya Bulusu (Undergraduate Student, 2022) Supported by the NU SURG in 2022

Yigit Yazgan (Undergraduate Student, 2022)

Eli Ganz (Undergraduate Student, 2020-2022) Supported by the Baker Faculty grant in 2021

Thomas Wytock (Postdoctoral Researcher, 2020-2021) sharing his time 50-50 with Prof. Motter’s group. Publications: M. R. Harris, T. P. Wytock and I. A. Kovács (2022) Computational inference of synaptic polarities in neuronal networks, Advanced Science 2104906, Rising Stars series; X.-W. Wang, L. Madeddu, K. Spirohn, L. Martini, A. Fazzone, L. Becchetti, T. P. Wytock, I. A. Kovács, O. M. Balogh, B. Benczik, M. Pétervári, B. Ágg, P. Ferdinandy, L. Vulliard, J. Menche, S. Colonnese, M. Petti, G. Scarano, F. Cuomo, T. Hao, F. Laval, L. Willems, J.-C. Twizere, M. A. Calderwood, E. Petrillo, A.-L. Barabási, E. K. Silverman, J. Loscalzo, P. Velardi and Yang-Yu Liu (2023) Assessment of community efforts to advance computational prediction of protein-protein interactions, Nature Communications, 14, 1582.

Michael Harris (Undergraduate Intern, 2019-2021) Loyola University Chicago. Publication: M. R. Harris, T. P. Wytock and I. A. Kovács (2022) Computational inference of synaptic polarities in neuronal networks, Advanced Science 2104906, Rising Stars series

Jonah Grob (Undergraduate Student, 2021) Supported by the Baker Faculty grant in 2021

Ali Alzergani (Undergraduate Student, 2020-2021)

Lachlan Gray (Undergraduate Intern, 2020-2021) University of Waterloo

Sean Dougherty (Undergraduate Student, 2020) Supported by the Baker Faculty grant in 2020, GEN LA 290: Summer Research