CV

My full academic curriculum vitae is below. Get my brief resume at: [PDF]

Education

• Ph.D., Experimental Particle Physics, The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL, May 2019
  • Dissertation defense: November 7, 2018
  • Dissertation: “Search for Signatures of Large Extra Dimensions in High-Mass Diphoton Events from Proton-Proton Collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 13$ TeV with CMS”
  • Dissertation available on CDS under report numbers CERN-THESIS-2018-263 and CMS-TS-2018-035
  • Advisor: Prof. Conor Henderson
• M.S., Physics, The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL, May 2016
  • Master’s defense: November 30, 2015
• B.S., Mathematics, Michigan Technological University, Houghton, MI, April 2011

Employment

• Summer 2018, Graduate Research Assistant, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL
• Spring 2018, Graduate Teaching Assistant, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL
• Summer 2014 - Fall 2017, Graduate Research Assistant, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL
• Spring 2016 - Summer 2017, Graduate Research Assistant, European Center for Nuclear Research (CERN), Geneva, Switzerland
• Fall 2012 - Spring 2014, Graduate Teaching Assistant, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL

Professional Experience

• Data Science Fellow, Insight Data Science, San Francisco, CA, Sept 2019 - Present

  • Consulted with a company to design a real-time anomaly detection algorithm for their water flow monitoring system

  • Engineered and modeled 3 months of daily sensor data (10K events/day) from multiple environments using isolation forests to identify rare flow behavior on the production system

  • Created and deployed dynamic visualizations of anomalous time series data into client’s online workflow for their customers

Research Experience

• Graduate Student Researcher, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL, Aug 2012 - May 2019

  • Analyzed PBs of detector data from high energy particle collisions at the CERN Large Hadron Collider, searching for new physics as a member of a 4000+ person collaboration

  • Managed long-term (3 year) statistical data analysis team of 10 researchers, leading the new result to publication, and member of 4 other data analysis teams

  • Wrote dedicated analysis packages for reducing data to GBs on remote computing clusters distributed across a worldwide high-performance computing grid

  • Improved particle identification by up to 50% in analysis region over standard procedure

  • Reduced fake signals to detector threshold by tuning custom tagging algorithms in data samples produced from Monte Carlo simulation

  • Conference talk: http://meetings.aps.org/Meeting/APR18/Session/C09.5
  • Publication: https://journals.aps.org/prd/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevD.98.092001
  • Analysis code: https://github.com/cms-exotica-diphotons/diphoton-analysis

  During this time, I was a CERN lab user, member of the CMS Collaboration, and a user of the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab) LHC Physics Center’s computing cluster.

  I have contributed to the CMS diphoton searches organized using the CMS analysis codes EXO-17-017, EXO-16-027, EXO-16-018, EXO-15-004, and EXO-12-045, serving as the Contact Person for EXO-17-017. The results of these searches are found under my list of publications.

  I was employed as a Graduate Research Assistant from Summer 2014 - Fall 2017 and during Summer 2018, but actively involved with dissertation research since Summer 2013.

• Graduate Research Assistant, European Center for Nuclear Research (CERN), Geneva, Switzerland, Jan 2016 - Aug 2017

  • Coordinated daily detector operation for 50 member team, responsible for promptly addressing problems with flexibility as a regular 24/7 on-call expert

  • Performed a data analysis to synchronize over 3500 new detector readout channels for production use in 2016 and 2017

  Analysis code is maintained at https://github.com/HCALPFG. Template code I wrote to help new members of the group at https://github.com/HCALPFG/HcalTupleAnalyzerExample.

Teaching Experience

• Graduate Teaching Assistant, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL, Fall 2012 - Spring 2014, Spring 2018

  • Started a new research-based journal club for 20 graduate students, postdocs, and professors in the physics department, organizing and leading biweekly sessions

  • Instructed multiple 2 hour long physics labs of 50 students each, conducting weekly experiments using statistical data analysis techniques

    • Lab instructor, PH 105 General Physics with Calculus I, 3 sections, Spring 2018
    • Course assistant, PH 105 General Physics with Calculus I (studio format), 1 section, Spring 2014
    • Lab instructor, PH 106 General Physics with Calculus II, 1 section, Fall 2013
    • Lab instructor, PH 101 General Physics I, 2 sections, Fall 2013
    • Lab instructor, PH 102 General Physics II, 1 section, Summer 2013
    • Lab instructor, PH 101 General Physics I, 1 section, Summer 2013
    • Lab instructor, PH 105 General Physics with Calculus I, 2 sections, Spring 2013
    • Lab instructor, PH 105 General Physics with Calculus I, 2 sections, Fall 2012
• Teaching Assistant, Department of Mathematical Sciences, Michigan Technological University, Houghton, MI, Fall 2009 - Spring 2011
  • Grader, MA 4515 Introduction to Partial Differential Equations, Spring 2011
  • Grader, MA 3530 Introduction to Differential Equations, Fall 2010
  • Grader, MA 3160 Multivariable Calculus with Technology, Spring 2010
  • Grader, MA 4525 Applied Vector and Tensor Mathematics, Fall 2009
• Coach, Math Learning Center, Department of Mathematical Sciences, Michigan Technological University, Houghton, MI, Fall 2008 - Spring 2011
  • Coach and tutor for precalculus; calculus 1, 2, and 3; differential equations; linear algebra; and statistics. We accepted walk-ins or individual, one-on-one appointments.

Selected Publications

Public articles I have made significant contributions towards are listed below. I am a coauthor on all of the CMS Collaboration’s publications since fulfilling their authorship requirements on October 13, 2016, currently over 280 publications. For the full list, please see: http://inspirehep.net/author/profile/A.Buccilli.1.

• CMS Collaboration, “Search for physics beyond the standard model in high-mass diphoton events from proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 13$ TeV”, Phys. Rev. D 98 (2018), no. 9, 092001, doi:10.1103/PhysRevD.98.092001, arXiv:1809.00327

• CMS Collaboration, “Search for physics beyond the standard model in the high-mass diphoton spectrum at 13 TeV”, Technical Report CMS-PAS-EXO-17-017, CERN, Geneva, 2018, http://cms-results.web.cern.ch/cms-results/public-results/preliminary-results/EXO-17-017/index.html (published in PRD)

• CMS Collaboration, “Search for resonant production of high mass photon pairs using 12.9 fb$^{-1}$ of proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 13$ TeV and combined interpretation of searches at 8 and 13 TeV”, Technical Report CMS-PAS-EXO-16-027, CERN, Geneva, 2016, http://cms-results.web.cern.ch/cms-results/public-results/preliminary-results/EXO-16-027/index.html

• CMS Collaboration, “Search for Resonant Production of High-Mass Photon Pairs in Proton-Proton Collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 8$ and 13 TeV”, Phys. Rev. Lett. 117 (2016), no. 5, 051802, doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.117.051802, arXiv:1606.04093

• CMS Collaboration, “Search for new physics in high mass diphoton events in 3.3 fb$^{-1}$ of proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 13$ TeV and combined interpretation of searches at 8 TeV and 13 TeV”, Technical Report CMS-PAS-EXO-16-018, CERN, Geneva, 2016, http://cms-results.web.cern.ch/cms-results/public-results/preliminary-results/EXO-16-018/index.html (published in PRL)

• CMS Collaboration, “Search for new physics in high mass diphoton events in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 13$ TeV “, Technical Report CMS-PAS-EXO-15-004, CERN, Geneva, 2015, http://cms-results.web.cern.ch/cms-results/public-results/preliminary-results/EXO-15-004/index.html

• CMS Collaboration, “Search for High-Mass Diphoton Resonances in pp Collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 8$ TeV with the CMS Detector”, Technical Report CMS-PAS-EXO-12-045, CERN, Geneva, 2015, http://cms-results.web.cern.ch/cms-results/public-results/preliminary-results/EXO-12-045/index.html

Selected Presentations

• Dissertation defense, “Search for Signatures of Large Extra Dimensions in High-Mass Diphoton Events from Proton-Proton Collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 13$ TeV with CMS”, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL, November 2018, https://physics.ua.edu

• Seminar, “Search for large extra dimensions using high-mass diphoton events collected with CMS in 2016”, Experimental Particle Physics Journal Club, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL, April 2018, https://physics.ua.edu/experimental-particle-and-astroparticle-physics-journal-club

• Parallel talk, “Search for signatures of large extra dimensions in high-mass diphoton events using proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 13$ TeV with CMS”, APS April Meeting 2018, Columbus, OH, 14-17 April 2018, http://meetings.aps.org/Meeting/APR18/Session/C09.5

• Research presentation, “EXO-17-017 pre-approval: Search for a non-resonant excess in the high-mass diphoton channel at 13 TeV”, EXO General Meeting, CERN, Geneva, Switzerland, November 2017, https://indico.cern.ch/event/678807 (restricted access)

• Competitive talk, “Searching for extra dimensions with a $5 billion microscope”, Three Minute Thesis, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL, November 2017, https://graduate.ua.edu/current-students/3mt (Department winner and college semi-finalist.)

• Collaboration talk, “HF and HEP17 Phase Settings in 2017”, CMS Week, CERN, Geneva, Switzerland, June 2017, https://indico.cern.ch/event/645440 (restricted access)

• Seminar, “Searching for Large Extra Dimensions with CMS”, HEP Seminar, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL, November 2014, https://physics.ua.edu

• Seminar, “Search for signatures of extra dimensions in the diphoton mass spectrum at CMS”, HEP Seminar, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL, December 2013, https://physics.ua.edu

Workshops and Summer Schools

• Selected participant, 2016 CTEQ-MCnet School on QCD, Electroweak Phenomenology, and Monte Carlo Generators, DESY, Hamburg, Germany, 6-16 July 2016, https://indico.desy.de/indico/event/13506

• Selected participant, Workshop on Holography: Near and Far from Equilibrium, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL, 24-30 October 2015, https://physics.ua.edu/recent-events/international-research-workshop-summer-school

• Selected participant, CMS Data Analysis School, LPC, Fermilab, Batavia, IL, 12-16 January 2015, https://indico.cern.ch/event/346968/overview (Awarded best presentation as selected by a panel of judges among 8 teams of about 10 international postgraduates working on a week-long data analysis project.)

Skills

• Computing: Python, C++, SQL, bash, git, LaTeX, HTML, Unix, Jupyter, MATLAB, Mathematica, Excel VBA

• Libraries: NumPy, pandas, SciPy, scikit-learn, Keras, TensorFlow, matplotlib, seaborn, plotly STL, CERN ROOT, RooStats

• Statistical: Machine learning, deep learning, computer vision, regression, classification, clustering, neural networks, regularization, dimensional reduction, feature engineering

• General: Collaborative and independent research, data analysis, programming, effective technical and non-technical communication, writing publications, public presentations, project management, leadership, teaching, mentoring, graduate-level physics and mathematics

• Language: English (native), Chinese (beginner: ~HSK3), French (basic)

Research Service and Leadership Roles

• Analysis Contact, CMS Exotica (EXO) Physics Analysis Group (PAG)
  • EXO-17-017
• Member, CMS EXO PAG
  • EXO-16-027
  • EXO-16-018
  • EXO-15-004
  • EXO-12-045
• Member, CMS Hadron Calorimeter (HCAL) Operations group
  • HCAL Prompt Feedback Group (PFG)
  • HCAL Detector-On-Call (DOC)

Outreach and Service

• Coordinator/founder, Experimental Particle Physics Journal Club, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL, Fall 2017 - Spring 2018, https://physics.ua.edu/experimental-particle-and-astroparticle-physics-journal-club

• Panelist/representative, Graduate Recruiting Expo 2018, College of Arts and Sciences, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL, Spring 2018, https://grex.ua.edu

• Physics event assistant, Alabama Science Olympiad, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL, Spring 2013, Spring 2014, Spring 2015, https://scienceolympiad.as.ua.edu

• Coach, Houghton High School math team, Houghton, MI, Fall 2010 - Spring 2011, http://hpts.us

Miscellaneous

• Organizations: American Physical Society, Sigma Pi Sigma ($\Sigma\Pi\Sigma$) physics honor society

• Awards: Top Student in my undergraduate Linear Algebra and Partial Differential Equations courses, selected among approximately 50 and 30 students, respectively.