Thereza Paiva is a physicist working in Condensed Matter theory. She is a full professor at the Quantum Matter group at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), where she has been since 2002, after her PhD in 1999 at the Fluminense Federal University and a postdoctoral research position at the University of California, Davis.
Thereza is interested in strongly correlated systems, superconductivity, quantum magnetism, topological matter, and ultracold atoms. She uses numerical methods, such as Quantum Monte Carlo, to study different aspects of the physics in systems where emerging phenomena take place. Thereza is also co-founder and co-director of Tem Menina no Circuito ("Girls in the Circuit"), an initiative to attract girls to STEM.