Evelyn Tang is an assistant professor in the physics department and the Center for Theoretical Biological Physics at Rice University in Houston, Texas. She did her PhD on quantum systems and topological phases at MIT with Xiao-Gang Wen. After that, she switched to computational neuroscience as an Africk Family Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania, focusing on cognition and brain networks. As a group leader subsequently at the Max Planck Institute of Dynamics and Self-Organization, her research has broadened to other questions in theoretical biological physics. She holds an MPhil from the University of Cambridge and a BS from Yale University. Prior awards include the IUPAP Interdisciplinary Early Career Scientist Prize, Scialog Award, Simons-Berkeley Research Fellowship, and Gates Cambridge scholarship.

Prof. Tang is a theoretical physicist engaged in the study of living and active matter. Such systems exhibit various emergent dynamics necessary for system regulation, growth, and motility. Her goal is to develop physical theories that describe and predict these and other striking out-of-equilibrium phenomena. She particularly enjoys using topology and geometry to predict robust dynamics in novel and accessible platforms, from quantum to biological systems. Her research is supported by the NSF CAREER award, the Kavli Foundation, and the Chan-Zuckerberg Foundation.

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