Hélène Barcelo is the Deputy Director of MSRI, a position she has held since July 1, 2008. As Deputy Director she is in charge of overseeing all scientific activities happening at the Institute.

A native of Québec, Canada, Hélène Barcelo received her PhD in mathematics in 1988 at the University of California, San Diego working under the supervision of Adriano M. Garsia. After a 3-year postdoctoral position at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, she moved to Arizona State University, Tempe Campus, where she was a Professor in the School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences for more than 20 years. She is now a Professor Emerita. She has been a visiting scholar at numerous universities and research institutes around the world. Professor Barcelo’s research interests lie in algebraic combinatorics; more specifically, combinatorial representation theory and homotopy theories in relation to subspace arrangements. Prior to becoming Deputy Director, she spent the spring 2008 semester at MSRI as a Research Professor in the Combinatorial Representation Theory program; she was in residence at MSRI for the year-long program in Combinatorics in 1996–97, and visited again in Fall 2004 during the Hyperplane Arrangements and Applications program.

For many years (2001–09) Professor Barcelo was the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Combinatorial Theory, Series A. She is currently a member of the advisory board. She has also served on the executive committee of the International Conference in Formal Power Series and Algebraic Combinatorics (FPSAC) for several years (2001–08). She was recently elected to the Council of the American Mathematical Society and serves on its Committee on Publications as well as on the Executive Committee.