Paolo Zanardi is a theoretical physicist specializing in the emerging field of quantum information science, which may one day lead to quantum computing. He studies the fundamental aspects of quantum information and quantum information processing (QIP), and their implementation in the real world. He is particularly interested in the intersection of quantum information theory and theoretical condensed matter and in the solid-state implementations of QIP devices. He is a member of the group that has proposed the Excitonic Quantum Computer.