Maria Spiropulu is an experimental particle physicist. Born and educated in Greece, she
became interested in experimental physics early on and worked in international
laboratories in Europe (BESSY, CERN) as an undergraduate. She moved to the US in
1993 to pursue her Ph.D. at the Collider Detector at Fermilab with Harvard University.
She has worked on silicon sensors, calorimetry, trigger and data acquisition and on
searches for physics beyond the standard model. She used the
blind data analysis
method for the first time in hadron collider data. She developed and implemented
background determination methodologies and algorithms (such as the Z-boson "standard candle" and the "W/Z standard candle transfer" for searches) that have been used
at Fermilab's experiments and are going to be employed by the experiments at the LHC.
The particular results on her search for supersymmetry were the best yet obtained and
have been quoted in the Particle Data Book since 2001. By analyzing the debris of very
high energy particle collisions, she is looking to find whether extra dimensions or
supersymmetric particles are relevant to the physics that connects the high energy scale
of gravity and unification with the scale of elementary particle masses. She is the
recipient of the Enrico Fermi Fellowship and Compton Lectureship at the University of
Chicago.
She lived
in the Chicago area since 1994 and moved in 2004 to Geneva, Switzerland with a staff
position at CERN's Physics Department to continue her research at the highest energy
experiments at the Large Hadron Collider. During the years 2005-08 she lead the
the search and discovery program of the CMS experiment. She is supervising a number of Ph.D thesis and research associates work. In 2008 she was elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
- 2008 : SYSY/Exotica Trigger Validation: preparation for data
- 2008 : Calorimetry Task Force
- 2005-2008: Convener, SUSY & Beyond the Standard Model CMS Physics group
- 2005-2007: Annual Reviewer, CMS Hadron Calorimeter Project
- 2005-2007: Scientific Secretary/Deputy Chair CMS Conference Committee
- 2006: Physics Rep CMS Tier-0 RTAG task force
@ the compact muon solenoid
- SUSY at the LHC, SUSY07, July 26-Aug 1 2007, Karlsruhe, Germany
- Strategizing Discovery, Physics at LHC: from Experiment to Theory, 21-24 March 2007, Princeton, NJ
- Status and Physics Startup for CMS, 2nd HERA-LHC workshop, 6-9 June 2006, CERN, Switzerland
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SUSY at the Large Hadron Collider, Physics at LHC, 3-8 July 2006, Cracow, Poland.
- Getting Ready for the LHC, SUSY06 Plenary on LHC, 12-17 June 2006, Irvine, CA
- SUSY and Beyond the Standard Model Searches at CMS, 10th Annual RDMS Conference, 10-17 Sept 2005, St, Petersburg, Russia
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Status of Beyond the Standard Model Searches, Physics at LHC, 13-17 July 2004, Vienna Austria.
- Staging of the LHC Detectors and Triggers in Light of Tevatron Results, 1stTeV4LHC Workshop, 16-18 September 2004, Fermilab
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The physics of black holes and gravitons in colliders,
Aspen Winter Conference on Particle Physics, 19-25 Jan 2003, Aspen CO
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New Physics at Hadron Colliders, Snowmass Summer Study on "The Future of Particle Physics", 2 Jul 2001, Snowmass CO
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Supersymmetry Searches at The Tevatron, Conference on QCD and High Energy Hadronic Interactions, XXXVIth Rencontres de Moriond, 17-24 Mar 2001, Les Arcs, Savoie, France
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Collider Signals from Extra Dimensions, Aspen Winter Conference on Astrophysics, 30 Jan -5 Feb 2000, Aspen CO
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Experimental Signals from Higher Dimensions, Aspen Winter Conference on Particle Physics, 16-22 Jan 2000, Aspen CO
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Beyond the Standard Model at the Tevatron, Aspen Winter Conference on Particle Physics, 17-23 Jan 1999, Aspen, CO
selected invited lectures at international conferences/workshops
- Gravity and the LHC, Confronting Gravity, 16-21 March 2006,St. Thomas, USVI
- Space Exploration using Colliders,
Science Innovation: Physical Science Frontiers Symposium, American Association
for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) 2003 Annual Meeting, Denver, Feb. 15 2003
- In Search of Extra Dimensions,
Science Innovation Invited Plenary Lecture, American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) 2002 Annual Meeting, Boston, 17 Feb. 2002.
- In Search of Extra Dimensions,
Invited Plenary Lecture, April 2001 American Physical Society (APS) Meeting, Washington DC, 28 Apr. 2001.
selected featured lectures at international conferences
- SUSY at the LHC, December 13 2007, Physics Department, Roma-Tre, Rome, Italy
- SUSY searches at the LHC, September 24 2007, Physics Department, Catania, Sicily
- Discovery Physics at the LHC, April 13 2007, Physics Department, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA
- ``Discovery Physics at the LHC'', February 5 2007, Physics Department, Harvard University, Boston MA
- SUSY at the LHC, October 6 2006, Physics Department, University of Cyprus
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The physics of Extra Dimensions at LHC, May 28 2004, IN2P3-CNRS, LLR Paris.
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CDF RUNII Status and Results, April 5 2004, LPHE, Lausanne.
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Experimental Particle Cosmology, December 9 2003, Renaissance Technologies, Stonybrook.
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The Unbearable Lightness of Gravity, November 21 2003, Argonne National Laboratory.
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Space Exploration in High Energy Colliders, March 17 2003, University of Michigan.
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Present and Future of Supersymmetry in Colliders, March 11 2003, Ohio State University.
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Missing Energy as a signature of new physics, May 3 2003, Caltech.
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There is something about SUSY, 9 May 2002, University of Chicago,
Oct 3 2002 Caltech, and Nov 28 2002 MIT.
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CDF present and future measurements and searches, Humboldt University Oct 28 2002.
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Extra Dimensions and the FNAL CDF Detector, 3 May 2002, Yale University.
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Signals from Extra Dimensions, 20 Sep 2001, Purdue University.
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Experimental Signals from Higher Dimensions, Spring 2000, University of New Hampshire and Vanderbilt University.
selected departmental colloquia
- 2009, AAAS, Physics Symposium, High-Energy Physics Discoveries: From the Tevatron to the Large Hadron Collider , February 15, Chicago, IL
- 2008, AAAS, Physics Symposium, Large-Scale International Collaborations and the Future of Physics , February 15, Boston, MA
- 2007, AAAS, Physics Symposium, co-organizer [with DoE],
A New Frontier in High Energy Physics February 16 2007, San Fransisco, CA
- SUSY06, Collider Physics Session, UCI, 2006, co-convener
- 2005 AAAS, Physics & Technology Symposium, Organizer; :
The Highest Energy CollidersFeb. 19 2005 and
Grids:At the Frontiers of Science and Global Collaboration Feb. 21, 2005 Washington DC.
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2005 Aspen Winter ConferenceThe Highest Energy Physics Aspen CO, Feb 13-19 2005.
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2003 AAAS, Physics Symposium, Organizer; The Physics of Extra Dimensions, February 13-17 Feb 2003, Denver CO. UChicago Press release
2002 Aspen Winter Conference on Particle Physics, Current and Upcoming Discoveries 3-9 Feb 2002, Aspen CO.
- 2001, Snowmass 2001, The future of particle physics, 1-20 July 2001, Snowmass, CO
selected events organizer
- Communicating Science Contribution to "Success Strategies for Women in Science: A Portable Mentor (Continuing Professional Development Series)" (Paperback) 2006
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Quarks Unbound, Sharon Butler and Maria Spiropulu, the particle physics brochure commissioned by Chris Quigg for the Division of Particles and Fields of the American Physical Society. Recipient of the Golden Trumpet award of Publicity Club of Chicago in 2003.
- The Elegant Universe A NOVA WGBH/PBS production (2003), participation
- Science Friday National Public Radio, 8 Feb, 2002 on Particle Physics
- Live from the Edge of Space and Time Passport to knowledge and NASA TV,April 2001, participation
- Scientific American, Ask the Experts section, October 1999: What is antimatter?
- Initiated Fermilab sponsored award to the finalists of the annual Illinois Junior Academy of Science Fair, 1999
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Initiated funding proposal and establishment of the annual FNAL/GSA New Perspectives George Michail Poster award , 1999
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Selected for American Physical Society's "Public Face for Physics" Program (1996)
selected outreach and initiatives
