Maria Spiropulu is an experimental particle physicist. Born and educated in Macedonia/Greece, she moved to the U.S. to pursue her Ph.D. at Harvard and worked at the Collider Detector at Fermilab (CDF). She has worked on silicon sensors, calorimetry, trigger and data acquisition and on searches for new physics. She used the double
blind data analysis method for the first time in hadron collider data. The particular Tevatron results from her search for supersymmetric dark matter using missing energy were the best yet obtained.
Spiropulu is interested in the search for dark matter at the LHC, questions on dark matter that cut across particle physics, astrophysics and cosmology. Her research efforts target instigating innovation in data analyses and creative thinking towards answering fundamental questions on the physics of the universe at the largest and smallest length scales. She remains close to the detector and the trigger system of the LHC's Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) experiment with the objective of obtaining high physics purity and best possible quality data samples for the CMS physics analyses.
Her discovery physics program at the LHC includes the development of new methods in the searches for dark matter candidates. The successful
razor kinematic variables, which target new dynamics with weakly interacting particles in the final state (such as neutrinos or dark matter particles) are now adopted by multiple groups searching for new phenomena at both the ATLAS and CMS experiments. The first CMS results using the
razor kinematics technology were presented in March 2011. Spiropulu with her students and colleagues has been developing since 2007 a wide-angle program for
look-alike model discrimination when new physics is observed. The program includes the
missing energy look-alikes and the
higgs look-alikes extended studies that employ a range of discriminating kinematical variables and advanced data regression methods.
In 2004 Spiropulu moved to CERN's Physics Department to continue her research at the Large Hadron Collider. During the years 2005-08 she led the search and discovery program of the CMS experiment as co-convener of the SUSYBSM physics analysis group. In 2009 she was named a Fellow of the AAAS
"for her leadership in experimental high-energy physics, in particular for her pioneering efforts in the experimental search for supersymmetry and extra dimensions" .
- 2010-: HCAL DPG deputy
- 2010-: HCAL Noise WG
- 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
- Distinguishing look-alike interpretations on new physics, LHC First Data
December 12-14 2010 MCTP, University of Michigan
- SUSY Searches at CMS LHC2010, Split, Oct 2010
- Origins and the LHC Arizona State University, launch of the Origins Institute, invited panelist, ASU, April 2009
- 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, 12-1>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
- LHC: Year 0 December 2010, Physics Department, The University of Michicagn.
- The Universe in Collisions , May 2009, Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics, UCSB
- 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, , 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
Trillions of reasons to be excited
