IRL Leadership
Director, CNRS-UChicago Particle Physics and Cosmology IRL
Visiting Scholar at the Enrico Fermi Institute at UChicago
Senior scientist at CNRS | CNRS Project Manager of the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE)
Cédric Cerna is a physicist at the National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) and Director of the Particle Physics & Cosmology International Research Laboratory at the University of Chicago. He earned his Ph.D. in Physics from Joseph Fourier University in 2000, specializing in neutrino physics.
Cerna began his career as a postdoctoral researcher at INFN Padova, working on low-pressure neutrino TPCs, before joining CNRS during the construction of ATLAS at CERN. He has made significant contributions to major international experiments, including DUNE in the U.S., where he oversees CNRS’s contributions as Project Manager, and JUNO in China, where he played a leading role in detector development. His expertise spans neutrino physics and dark energy (JDEM and EUCLID missions), with a focus on managing large-scale scientific projects and international collaborations.
Cerna has secured several research grants, mentored Ph.D. students, and supervised internships. He has been involved in numerous international collaborations and published over 70 peer-reviewed articles.
Professor at the University of Chicago | Fermilab’s Deputy Director for Science and Technology and Chief Research Officer
Bonnie Fleming is Fermilab’s Deputy Director for Science and Technology and Chief Research Officer. An internationally recognized particle physicist with outstanding expertise and a world leader in neutrino physics, she leads all areas of science and technology at Fermilab.
Fleming began her career at Fermilab as a graduate student from Columbia University working on the NuTeV experiment and then as a Lederman Fellow working on MiniBooNE. From 2004 to 2021, Fleming was on faculty in the physics department at Yale University. She served as the founding spokesperson for the ArgoNeuT experiment and for the MicroBooNE experiment (later co-spokesperson). She has been a leading collaborator on SBND and DUNE and pioneered the detector technology employed for all these experiments, Liquid Argon Time Projection Chambers, a technology employed by DUNE.
Formerly the Deputy Chief Research Officer at Fermilab (2016 to 2018), Fleming has received numerous honors and awards, including an APS Fellowship in 2013. Fleming earned a Ph.D. in physics from Columbia University. She currently serves as a member of the National Academies Decadal Survey in particle physics and holds a joint appointment with the University of Chicago in the Enrico Fermi Institute within the Department of Physics.
Principal Inverstigators
Reina Camacho Toro
Scientist at CNRS
Laboratoire de Physique Nucléaire et de Hautes Energies (LPNHE), CNRS/IN2P3, Sorbonne Université & the Université Paris Cité
David Longuevergne
Senior Research Engineer, PhD
Institute of Physics of the two Infinities Irène Joliot-Curie (IJCLab), CNRS & the Université Paris-Saclay
David W. Miller
Associate Professor at the University of Chicago
Etienne Parizot
Professor at the University Paris Cité
Astroparticle and Cosmology (APC) laboratory, CNRS/IN2P3 & the University Paris Cité
Paolo Privitera
Professor at the University of Chicago
Luca Scotto Lavina
Senior Scientist at CNRS
Laboratoire de Physique Nucléaire et de Hautes Energies (LPNHE), CNRS/IN2P3, Sorbonne Université & the Université Paris Cité
Alessandra Tonazzo
Professor at the University Paris Cité
Astroparticle and Cosmology (APC) laboratory, CNRS/IN2P3 & the University Paris Cité