In this talk I will present two ultracold atom experiments, one exploring ⁶Li-⁴⁰K Fermi mixtures and the other quantum degenerate gases of strontium.

The first experiment has the goal to create a new class of strongly interacting many-body quantum systems. After careful characterization of the interspecies Feshbach resonances, we are now able to prepare the mixture under conditions of strong interactions. Recently, we have observed signs of the strongly interacting regime in the form of hydrodynamic phenomena during expansion of the mixture from the trap.

The second experiment created the first Bose-Einstein condensate of strontium and recently a double-degenerate Bose-Fermi mixture of strontium. Our long-term goal is to use these quantum gases to implement quantum simulations of topological quantum phases enabled by the rich internal state structure of strontium.