Experimental Particle Physics

Florencia Canelli is a full professor in experimental physics in the Department of Physics at the University of Zurich. Her research consists of studying the structure of matter at the highest energies possible to understand the fundamental nature of the universe. She received a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Rochester in 2003 where her research on the D0 experiment at the Fermilab Tevatron focused on measuring properties of the heaviest known particle, the top quark.  Her Ph.D. thesis was awarded the Mitsuyoshi Tanaka Award for best Ph.D. dissertation in experimental particle physics by the American Physical Society, the University Research Association Thesis Award for best Ph.D. dissertation performed at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, and the Frederick Lobkowicz Thesis Prize for best Ph.D. dissertation in high energy particle or nuclear physics awarded by the University of Rochester.

She moved to the CDF experiment as a postdoctoral researcher for the University of California at Los Angeles, and continued her research on CDF as a tenure-track Fermilab Wilson fellow, gaining the title of Scientist-1. From 2008-2012 she was an Associate Professor at the University of Chicago, where her research focused on the ATLAS experiment.  In 2008, she received the Alfred Sloan Fellowship in recognition of distinguished performance and a unique potential to make substantial contributions to physics. In 2010, she was awarded the Young Scientist Prize of the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics for outstanding achievement in experimental particle physics.
She was a member of the Physics Advisory Committee to the director of the Fermi National Laboratory and member of the International Union of Physicists and Applied Physicists (C11).  She is currently the scientific delegate from Switzerland to the CERN council (2022-2024) and the chair of the C11 IUPAP (2021-2024)
Her current research is focused on the CMS experiment, which she joined in 2012. She has served a two-year term (2018-2020) as the Top-quark Physics Analysis Group convener and has been appointed Physics Coordinator of the CMS experiment (2021-2023). Her group is also engaged in developing the next upgrade of the CMS pixel detector.