P. Bargassa

I am a senior scientist at the RBI of Zagreb, working in the CMS collaboration at LHC. I did my PhD at the ETH Zürich while being based at CERN. As a research assistant in the physics department of the University of Oxford, I worked on the alignment system of the silicon tracker of the ATLAS detector. I then worked as a research associate for the Rice University of Houston while being based at Fermilab during four years. Here, I was the leader for searches of the Supersymmetric (Susy) partner of the top quark (stop): two publications on these searches are based on my work. While still working for the Rice University and being based at CERN during three years, I convened the Trigger Development (TD) group of CMS during two years, developing the first online selection algorithms of CMS. In this framework, I am the designer of the official software for simulating triggers in CMS. I am the initiator of searches for stop in CMS across different mass regions, and various production- & decay-modes. For these searches I pioneered Machine-Learning (ML) approaches, a statistical rationale for the inclusion of discriminating variables in the ML tool, and an ML selection adapted to the varying kinematics of the signal. I have applied these innovations in three publications where I am the main author. These publications cover four different decay-modes of the stop. I have been the convener of the New Analysis & Trigger Strategy group within the Susy group of CMS, in charge of preparing new analysis approaches for Run3. Finally, in the continuation of my effort in cutting edge selection tools, I have developed an event classification method for High Energy Physics (HEP) based on Quantum Computing (QC), while contributing to Quantum Algorithms (QA) for track and jet reconstruction. Throughout my career, I had the opportunity to teach. I was the supervisor of two students who successfully defended his PhD in particle physics in 2016 and 2023, and of another student who successfully defended his master thesis in QC/QA in 2021. I tutored many students & post-doctoral fellows. I attracted six such fellows to work in the TD group. Through outreach activities, I gained the participation of many students, several of whom are continuing in research; one of them was my second PhD student, while two others have volunteered to do a second internship under my direction. My critical view on scientific and editorial work has been recognized through nomination in four review committees of the CMS collaboration, and in its thesis award committee.