A professor of theoretical particle physics and cosmology at Harvard University, she received her Ph.D. from Harvard and has held professorships at MIT and Princeton University. A member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, she has received numerous awards as well as several honorary degrees conferred on her by such prestigious universities as Brown University, Duke University, Bard College, and the University of Antwerp. In 2007 she was named one of the 100 most influential people by "Time" magazine.