StatPhys29 – 2025 Florence, Italy

Menu

Early Career Scientist Prizes

The Early Career Scientist Prizes (previously Young Scientist Prizes) in Statistical Physics has recently been established by the C3 Commission on Statistical Physics of the IUPAP. The Award is aimed at recognizing outstanding achievements of scientists at early stages of their career in the field of Statistical Physics. The recipients are expected to have displayed significant achievement and exceptional promise for future achievements in the area of experimental or theoretical Statistical Physics.

Announcement of Early Career Scientist Prize 2025

The C3 Commission on Statistical Physics of the IUPAP has selected the following scientists for the Early Career Science Award of the IUPAP:

Daniel M. Busiello
Lorenzo Caprini
Nicole Yunger Halpern
Congratulations to the awardees!

The award ceremony will take place at the StatPhys29 conference in Florence, 13-18 July, 2025.

Janos Kertesz (Chair of C3)
Cristina Marchetti (Vice-Chair of C3)
Chao Tang (Secretary of C3)

Daniel M. Busiello

Short biography
Daniel M. Busiello is currently a Group Leader at the University of Padua, where he defended his PhD in 2018. Previously, he was a postdoctoral fellow at EPFL and later held an independent research position at the Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems. His work in theoretical statistical physics covers a wide range of topics, from stochastic thermodynamics to physical chemistry and information theory. Recently, he has focused on how biochemical and nonbiological systems process, store, and use information from noisy environments operating across multiple spatiotemporal scales.
Laudatio for Daniel M. Busiello

Dr. Daniel Busiello receives the Early Career Scientist Award in Statistical Physics for their outstanding research in the field of nonequilibrium chemical systems. In exemplary collaboration with experimentalists, Dr. Busiello has created a most promising synergistic approach based on stochastic thermodynamics, chemical networks, molecular biology, and information theory.

ESCA_picture_Buiello

Lorenzo Caprini

Short biography
Lorenzo Caprini is a tenure-track researcher at Sapienza University of Rome. Dr. Caprini obtained his PhD from the Gran Sasso Science Institute in December 2019 after completing his undergraduate studies at Sapienza University of Rome in 2016. His research focuses on active matter, granular materials, and fundamental aspects of non-equilibrium statistical mechanics, including stochastic thermodynamics and linear response theory. His work integrates numerical simulations – reproducing the behaviour of colloids, sperm, and active vibrobots – with theoretical approaches such as fluctuating hydrodynamics and stochastic dynamics, as well as experimental investigations of active granular particles.
Laudatio for Lorenzo Caprini

Dr. Lorenzo Caprini receives the Early Career Scientist Award in Statistical Physics for their outstanding work on non-equilibrium statistical mechanics and stochastic processes extending to soft matter with applications in biologically inspired systems. Specifically, Dr. Caprini provided eminent contributions in active matter, taking energy from the environment to sustain their motion, such as bacteria, active colloids or active granular particles.

Nicole Yunger Halpern

Short biography

Nicole Yunger Halpern is a theoretical quantum physicist at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and a Fellow of the Joint Center for Quantum Information and Computer Science. Nicole completed her PhD at Caltech, then worked as an ITAMP Postdoctoral Fellow at Harvard University. She now leads the Quantum-Steampunk Laboratory at the University of Maryland and co-leads the Maryland Quantum-Thermodynamics Hub.

Laudatio for Nicole Yunger Halpern
Dr. Nicole Yunger Halpern receives the Early Career Scientist Award in Statistical Physics for their outstanding contributions bridging statistical physics, thermodynamics and quantum information theory. Specifically, Dr. Yunger Halpern provided fundamental results on non-Abelian thermodynamics and on the relationship between quantum chaos and the work fluctuation theorem of non-equilibrium thermodynamics.
Previous winners of The Early Career Scientist Prizes