Yunger Halpern Makes Science News’s 10 Scientists to Watch List

Nicole Yunger Halpern, a physicist at the National Institute of Standards and Technology who is embedded full-time on the University of Maryland campus as a Fellow in the Joint Center for Quantum Information and Computer Science, has been recognized as one of Science News’s 10 “Scientists to Watch” (SN 10) for 2024.

She joins nine other early- and mid-career scientists engaged in innovative work across various fields. These individuals were selected from a pool of over two dozen researchers nominated by Nobel Laureates and newly elected members of the National Academy of Sciences. A team of Science News writers, many of whom are experts in their fields, chose these scientists for their potential to shape the future of science.

“The fresh perspectives and bold ideas researched by the SN 10 scientists are critical to progress, driving solutions we urgently need for a rapidly changing world,” says Maya Ajmera, President and CEO of Society for Science and the executive publisher of Science News. “I am thrilled that we are able to celebrate and spotlight these extraordinary individuals.”

Yunger Halpern was honored for her contributions to quantum thermodynamics, which she likens to a real-world version of steampunk, blending historical concepts with modern technology.

She is a senior investigator in the NSF Quantum Leap Challenge Institute for Robust Quantum Simulation and an adjunct faculty member in both the Institute for Physical Science & Technology and the University of Maryland Institute for Advanced Computer Studies.

At UMD, Yunger-Halpern leads a theoretical research group that is modernizing thermodynamics, which traditionally describes large things like steam engines. Yunger Halpern’s team uses the tools of quantum information theory to make a theory of quantum thermodynamics that describes small things like individual molecules and the qubits that are the basic building blocks of quantum computers. She applies her quantum thermodynamics perspectives to problems from a broad range of fields, including atomic, molecular, and optical physics; condensed matter physics; chemistry; high-energy physics; and biophysics.

—Story by Melissa Brachfeld, UMIACS communications group