Aleena Rafique

Aleena Rafique is an Assistant Physicist in the High Energy Physics Division at Argonne National Laboratory, where she has been a member since August 2018. Her research focuses on understanding the properties and interactions of neutrinos through participation in several major neutrino experiments, including DUNE, MicroBooNE, and NOvA.

Aleena’s current work explores the integration of advanced computing techniques into neutrino physics, with a particular emphasis on high-performance computing (HPC) applications for the DUNE experiment. She is leading efforts to develop and deploy a domain-specific large language model (LLM) designed to support the DUNE collaboration by enabling more efficient access to technical documentation and collaboration knowledge.

In 2023, Aleena was recognized with the PSE Early Investigator Named Award for her innovative contributions to computational and experimental neutrino physics.

On the hardware side, she is actively involved in the design, production, and quality assurance of cathode plane assemblies for the DUNE Far Detector. Previously, during her postdoctoral appointment, she worked on the ProtoDUNE Single Phase experiment at CERN, contributing to the development of electromagnetic shower reconstruction techniques.