James Freericks has a long-standing interest in quantum mechanics. His research focuses on three major areas: (i) nonequilibrium many-body physics with applications to pump–probe experiments, (ii) performing real science on near-term quantum computers, and (iii) educating a broad cohort in quantum mechanical ideas. He developed nonequilibrium dynamical mean-field theory, has successfully completed numerous quantum computing benchmarks, and has a MOOC entitled Quantum Mechanics for Everyone on edX that has enrolled 45,000 students and is number 7 on the top 250 MOOCs of all time at Class Central. He is a professor and McDevitt Chair of Physics at Georgetown University, where he has been since 1994. He received his bachelor's degree from Princeton and his Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley. He is a fellow of the American Physical Society and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and has won awards from the Office of Naval Research, the Alpha Sigma Nu Society, edX, and Georgetown University. He has also served as the secretary/treasurer and divisional councilor for the Division of Computational Physics at the American Physical Society. He is the section representative for the Chesapeake section of the American Association of Physics Teachers. He was also one of the head writers of the Nine Key Concepts for learning quantum information science.