Historically the study of physics in our
local environment has led to an improved understanding of Nature well beyond
our planetary bounds. As a physicist who has worked in academia and industry,
in this talk I hope to convey my excitement for the study of quantum materials both
for their application to the everyday and for their fundamental properties that
may help us understand our greater Universe. The combination of quantum
mechanics and complexity leads to the emergence of rich, exotic states of matter
where the number of constituent electrons is comparable to the number of stars
in our observable Universe. In this sense quantum materials can be viewed as
tunable Universes where their behaviors under extreme conditions can be probed
in the laboratory with far-reaching implications. After discussing some specific
examples, I will end with our “Dark Matter” challenges and our many hopes for
the future.