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Nirvana Caballero
I am a theoretical physicist working at the Faculty of Science of Université de Genève in Switzerland.
My research interests involve the collective behaviour of disordered systems, non-equilibrium dynamics, and phase transitions.
I follow an unconventional interdisciplinary approach, covering different problems that range from materials to life sciences.
I am the President of the Postdoc Association of the University of Geneva (Switzerland), a Committee member of the Biological Physics Group of the Institute of Physics (United Kingdom) and a Tremplin Laureate.


About: About
I develop and use advanced analytical and numerical techniques to treat the equilibrium and non-equilibrium features of different systems. I use high-performance computing techniques (General Purpose Graphical Processing Units techniques) for example, to model systems by Molecular dynamics and Monte Carlo simulations, or coarsened models following Langevin dynamics. I work in very close collaboration with experimentalists of different areas of physics and biology. I am always looking for connections between theory, numerical simulations, and experiments.
I have the honor of being part of the groups of two of the best researchers in my field: Prof. Thierry Giamarchi and Prof. Patrycja Paruch.
I am proudly working at the University of Geneva (UNIGE).
UNIGE is in the top 1% of the world's best universities.
Selected Honors, Awards, and Leadership postions
New membership
Réseau romand de mentoring pour femmes

2023-2024
I am honored to be one of the 24 candidates selected every two years to join this amazing network. I'm eagerly looking forward to contributing to and benefiting from this exceptional opportunity.
Tremplin Laureate
University of Geneva

2022-2023
This grant, based on academic excellence, is given yearly to the most promising researchers from the University of Geneva (one per Faculty) to help them to pursue an academic path.
President
Association of Postdoctoral Researchers of the University of Geneva (APDU)

2021-present
Role: Leading and managing the association with other committee members. The association is focused on increasing the impact of PostDocs through local and international activities while contributing to the development of young scientists.
Early-Career Member
Institute Of Physics (IOP), United Kingdom

2021-2025
Biological Physics Committee
Phase Transitions
University of Geneva, Switzerland

2019
Along with Prof. Eugene Sukhorukov, we got excellent evaluations for teaching this course. The global appreciation of the course by the students was 3.88 (over 4 total points) in 2019. This score (not always available) is based on anonymous interviews with students, made by the University of Geneva.
Best poster award of the topic Out-of-equilibrium Aspects
The International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP)

2019
Prize awarded at 27th IUPAP International Conference on Statistical Physics for my oral exposition of the poster 184 of Topic 2.
Excellence Scholarship
Swiss Confederation, Switzerland

2018-2019
I was awarded this Scholarship by the Suisse Confederation to work in the Physics of disordered systems. Success rate 2017: 256 (number of awards)/1184 (candidates that overcame the first evaluation stage from 180 countries) -data by SERI-.
Postdoctoral Fellowship
National Scientific and Technical Research Council, Argentina

2016-2019
Competitive national fellowship
Doctoral Fellowship
National Scientific and Technical Research Council, Argentina

2013-2016
Competitive national fellowship to finish doctoral studies
Doctoral Fellowship
National Scientific and Technical Research Council, Argentina

2011-2013
Competitive national fellowship to initiate doctoral studies
Masperi Prize, Special Mention
Argentine Physical Society

2011
Prize to the best "Licenciatura" (Master equivalent) thesis in Physics defended in Argentina in the two years time period 2010-2011.
Academic Positions
Position from September 2023
Senior research and teaching assistant
Department of Quantum Matter Physics
Prof. Thierry Giamarchi and Prof. Patrycja Paruch groups
Faculty of Science at the University of Geneva
Geneva, Switzerland
Expertise : Models development, high-performance numerical solutions, Experiments design and analysis.
September 2019-August 2023
Postdoctoral Researcher
Topic: Combined effects of disorder and interactions on classical systems
Prof. Thierry Giamarchi and Prof. Patrycja Paruch groups
Faculty of Science at the University of Geneva
Geneva, Switzerland
Expertise : Models development, high-performance numerical solutions, Experiments design and analysis.
September 2019-August 2023
Teaching Assistant
Course: Advanced Solid Physics: Phase transitions and Collective Phenomena
Professor in charge: Prof. Eugene Sukhorukov
Faculty of Science at the University of Geneva
Geneva, Switzerland
Main tasks: coordination, organization and design of exersises and evaluations.
September 2018-August 2019
Excellence Postdoctoral Scholarship holder
Topic: Ferroelectric materials at the anoscale
Prof. Thierry Giamarchi
Faculty of Science at the University of Geneva
Geneva, Switzerland
Expertise: Theory development and numerical simulations of experimental results obtained for ferroelectric materials at the nanoscale
September 2018-August 2019
Teaching Assistant
Course: Advanced Solid Physics: Phase transitions and Collective Phenomena
Professor in charge: Prof. Thierry Giamarchi
Faculty of Science at the University of Geneva
Geneva, Switzerland
Main tasks: coordination, organization and design of exersises and evaluations.
April 2016- April 2019
Postdoctoral Researcher
Topic: Effective models for the study of dynamical properties of magnetic domain walls
Advisor: Prof. Sebastian Bustingorry
National Atomic Energy Commission
Bariloche, Argentina
Expertise : Models development, high-performance numerical solutions, Experiments design and analysis.
April 2011-March 2016
Ph.D. in Physics (Doctora en Fisica)
Thesis title: Rotational dynamics and orientational order of compounds with glassy phases
Supervisor: Prof. Pablo Serra
Faculty of Mathematics, Astronomy and Physics, National University of Cordoba
Cordoba, Argentina
Expertise : Models development, high-performance numerical solutions, Experiments design and analysis.
2011-2013
Teaching Assistant
Courses: Introductory Mathematics (1st year course), Introductory Physics (1st year course), Modern Physics (3rd year course), Electromagnetism (3rd year course).
...
Faculty of Mathematics, Astronomy and Physics, National University of Cordoba
Cordoba, Argentina
These positions are only given through an evaluation process to the best 6 Ph.D. students of the Faculty interested in teaching (after 2013 I decided to focus on other activities, and did not apply anymore for the position).
2010-2011
Student Teaching Assistant
Course: Introductory Mathematics (1st year course), Introductory Physics (1st year course)
...
Faculty of Mathematics, Astronomy and Physics, National University of Cordoba
Cordoba, Argentina
These positions are only given through an evaluation process to the best Master students of the Faculty interested in teaching.
March 2006-March 2011
Equivalent to Bachelor +Master in Physics (Licenciada en Fisica)
Thesis title: Orientational and Rotational Dynamics of plastic and liquid CBrCl3
Supervisor: Prof. Pablo Serra.
Faculty of Mathematics, Astronomy and Physics, National University of Cordoba
Cordoba, Argentina
Expertise: molecular dynamics simulations, methods to meassure the ordering degree
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