Marcela Carena
Marcela Silvia Carena Lopez (born March 22, 1962 in Buenos Aires, Argentina) is a theoretical physicist, Distinguished Scientist, International Relations Directorate, and head of the Theoretical Physics Department at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, and professor at the University of Chicago, where she is a member of the Enrico Fermi Institute and the Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics. Education. Carena received her Diploma in Physics from the Instituto Balseiro of Bariloche, Argentina in 1985, and her Ph.D. in High Energy Physics from the University of Hamburg in 1989. Research. Carena's research is focused on models of new  physics beyond the Standard Model and their manifestations in particle physics experiments. She explores possible connections between Higgs boson, Supersymmetry, Grand Unification, Flavor Physics and Dark Matter. For example, she has developed a particle physics model which explains the matter – anti-matter asymmetry of the universe (also known as baryogenesis). This model posits key super-symmetric particles, such as a light stop (scalar top) quark, as well as a relatively light Higgs boson. The LHC experiments should be able to test this model definitively. Carena works closely with experimental physicists. Her interest in experimental tests of theoretical models started with  the e+e- LEP experiments at CERN, and include now the proton anti-proton experiments at the Tevatron and the proton-proton experiments at the LHC. Her goal is to develop experimental tests of the latest theoretical ideas for the mechanism of electroweak symmetry breaking, which is purported to be responsible for the masses of the fundamental particles. Recently she has demonstrated the complementary interplay of direct searches for Dark Matter and searches for Higgs bosons in collider experiments. Professional activities. Carena was a general councilor of the American Physical Society (APS) and a member of the APS Committee on International  Scientific Affairs. She is a former chair of the DPF Nominating Committee. She served on the Particle Physics Project Prioritization Panel (P5) of the U.S. DOE/NSF High Energy Physics Advisory Panel (HEPAP). Carena originated a visitor program which brings students from Latin America to Fermilab so that they can pursue research projects with Fermilab theoretical physicists as part of their graduate education. Carena frequently delivers public lectures in conjunction with professional workshops in the Fermilab area and elsewhere. She was featured in the 2008 documentary film The Atom Smashers. From 2004 through 2019, Carena was a member of the  Aspen Center for Physics Awards. Carena was a John Stuart Bell Fellow at CERN in 1993–95, a Marie Curie Fellow in 1996, and an American Physical Society Fellow since 2002. She has also been presented with the Research Award of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation in 2010, and was named a Simons Distinguished Visiting Scholar, at the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics, in 2013. Personal life. Carena is married to the theoretical physicist Carlos E.M. Wagner. Publications. Dr. Carena's publications are available on the INSPIRE-HEP Literature Database .