About me
About
I'm Yubraj Bhandari, a senior undergraduate studying Physics and Mathematics at Duke University. I grew up in Manigram, a small town near Butwal, Nepal. My interest in science began with astronomy and led me to participate in the International Olympiad on Astronomy and Astrophysics in 2021. At Duke, I've become increasingly interested in how physics, mathematics, and computation can help us understand and model complex physical systems.
Imaging & quantum
Research
For the past three years, I've worked with Prof. Joseph Lo at Duke's Center for Virtual Imaging Trials (CVIT), developing computational models of human anatomy for medical imaging research. My work includes 3D segmentation, generative modeling, and computational phantoms, including AbdomenGen, a first-author paper at MICCAI 2026. More recently, I've been exploring inverse problems in CT imaging: can we recover the underlying material composition of the human body from imaging measurements? My ongoing MatRecon project investigates this question using differentiable physical models and inverse optimization.
In parallel, I'm deeply interested in quantum information and computation. During summer 2026, I conducted research at the University of Augsburg through a DAAD RISE fellowship, studying efficient classical simulation of quantum dynamics. Our work on readout-aware approximate Heisenberg propagation resulted in a first-author preprint. Across medical imaging and quantum simulation, one idea that keeps coming up is how the choice of mathematical representation can fundamentally change the difficulty of a computational problem.
Nepal & community
Beyond research
I also work on air-quality monitoring and computational modeling related to Nepal, with an interest in understanding pollution exposure and improving sensor placement. Through Unnchai, I've helped mentor high school students in Nepal and introduce them to quantum computing and scientific research.
I plan to pursue graduate study after Duke, with interests spanning quantum information, scientific computing, and computational medical imaging. In the longer term, I hope to contribute to research and education in Nepal and help make scientific opportunities and useful technologies more accessible.