Scott Aaronson's research focuses on the capabilities and limits of quantum computers, and more generally on computational complexity and its relationship to physics. Aaronson studied at Cornell and UC Berkeley and did postdoctoral research at the Institute for Advanced Study as well as the University of Waterloo. His first book, Quantum Computing Since Democritus, was published in 2013 by Cambridge University Press. The son of a science writer, Aaronson has written about quantum computing for Scientific American and the New York Times, and writes the popular blog Shtetl-Optimized. He has received the National Science Foundation’s Alan T. Waterman Award, the United States PECASE Award, and MIT's Junior Bose Award for Excellence in Teaching.