Professor Simmons is a Laureate Fellow & Director of the Centre of Excellence for Quantum Computation and Communication Technology. She has pioneered unique technologies to build electronic devices at the atomic scale, pushing the boundaries of global research in classical computing and opening up the prospect of developing a silicon-based quantum computer: a powerful new form of computing with the potential to transform information processing.

She has received Federation and Laureate Fellowships, been named NSW Scientist of the Year and awarded the CSIRO Eureka Prize for Science Leadership. Recognised with the Pawsey and Lyle Medals from the Australian Academy of Science she was, upon her appointment, one of the youngest fellows of this Academy.

In 2014 she was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and was awarded the Feynman Prize in Nanotechnology for ‘the creation of the new field of atomic-electronics’ in 2016. Recognised as a pioneer in quantum computing by the American Computer Museum, she is Editor-in-Chief of Nature Quantum Information and was the 2017 L’ORÉAL-UNESCO Asia-Pacific Laureate. She is currently the 2018 Australian of the Year.