Nicole Yunger Halpern
Adjunct Assistant Professor, Quantum Thermodynamics & Quantum Information
Joint Center for Quantum Information and Computer ScienceNSF Quantum Leap Challenge Institute for Robust Quantum Simulation
Nicole Yunger Halpern is an adjunct assistant professor in the University of Maryland Institute for Advanced Computer Studies. She is also a theoretical physicist at the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
Yunger Halpern reenvisions 19th-century thermodynamics for the 21st century, using the mathematical toolkit of quantum information (QI) theory. She applies QI thermodynamics as a lens through which to view the rest of science, gaining new perspectives on atomic, molecular and optical physics, condensed matter, chemistry, high-energy physics, and biophysics. Yunger Halpern calls this research “quantum steampunk,” after the steampunk genre of art and literature that juxtaposes Victorian settings with futuristic technologies.