Curriculum Vitae
(pdf version probably not as updated)
Research experience
- 2024 - present: Assistant Professor, University of Arizona & Steward Observatory
- 2019 - 2023: Research Fellow, Center for Computational Astrophysics - Flatiron Institute & Columbia University
- 2015 - 2019: PhD, University of Amsterdam
- January 2017/June 2017: Graduate Fellow in KITP (UCSB)
- July 2013/September 2013: INFN/LIGO Summer internship at the California Institute of Technology
Education
2019: PhD in Astrophysics, University of Amsterdam - advisor S. E. de Mink
Thesis title "Live fast and die young: evolution and fate of massive stars"
2015: Master in Physics, major in Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of Pisa - advisors C. D. Ott and S. N. Shore
Thesis title "Systematic study of mass loss in the evolution of massive stars"
2012: Bachelor in Physics, University of Pisa - advisor G. Paffuti
Thesis on the non-relativistic calculation of Mercury's precession
Grants, Honors, and Awards
- 2025: NSF/AAG (∼370k$ over 3 years)
- 2024: NASA/ATP (~380k$ over 3 years)
- 2019: Flatiron Research Fellowship
- 2017: KITP Graduate Student Fellowship (UCSB)
- 2013: INFN/LIGO Summer Internship (Caltech)
Observing and computing time grants
- 2025: Co-I HST proposal "HD 96670: A pilot study to characterise low luminosity stripped stars around bright O stars" (PI: K. Sen)
- 2024: PI Magellan MagE proposal "Physical properties of accretor stars in post-interaction massive binaries" (Science PI: A. LaRoche)
- 2024: Co-I University of Arizona observatories proposal "Follow-up of Electromagnetic Counterparts to Gravitational Wave Events in O4" (PI: G. Hosseinzadeh)
- 2024: Co-I JWST DDT proposal "NIR+MIR Spectroscopy of the Nearby Broad Line Type Ic SN 2024abup: r-process, Dust and Explosion Physics" (PI: M. Shresta)
- 2024: Co-I Gemini proposal "Gemini as the Ultimate Time Domain Follow-up Machine: Understanding the Nearest Cosmic Explosions" (PI: D. Sand)
- 2022: Co-I Chandra proposal "BH candidate in an extreme heartbeat star" (PI: S. Oey)
- 2019: Co-I X-Shooter proposal "HOTFUSS" (PI: S. Geier)
- 2018: Co-I Muse proposal “MUSE WFM-AO observations of the Small Magellanic Cloud cluster NGC 330 as a benchmark for single and binary evolution of massive stars” (PI: J. Bodensteiner, 3.3h of VLT time)
- 2017: PI for the Pilot Project " Impact of pair-pulsational instabilities on black hole masses". Granted 500000 CPU hours on the Supercomputer Cartesius
- 2016: PI for the Pilot Project “Mass Loss in Massive Star Evolution: Systematic Comparison of Algorithms”. Granted 500000 CPU hours on the Supercomputer Cartesius
Other professional experiences and qualifications
- Translator (from French to English) of the book "Guide Pratique pour (Bien) Commencer en Spectroscopie Astronomique", author François Cochard, published by EPD Science
Refereeing
- Referee for ApJ, ApJL, A&A, MNRAS, MNRAS Letters, Nature, Nature Astronomy, Frontiers in Astrophysics, The Open Journal of Astrophysics
- external evaluator for NSERC/CRSNG (Canada)
- 2× panelist for the National Science Foundation (USA)
- Reviewer for NASA HST, NHFP
Conferences/Workshop organization
- 2025: SOC member "3D nucleosynthesis in stars and stellar explosions"
- 2025: Organizer (with Dr. van Son, Dr. Goldberg, Dr. Cantiello, Prof. Brevik) of "Stable mass transfer workshop 2.0" at CCA, NYC, 27-30 May 2025
- 2024: Organizer (with Dr. van Son and Dr. Goldberg) of "Stable mass transfer workshop" at CCA, NYC, 11-13 March 2024, Online talks
- 2023: SOC member for the conference "Massive Binaries 2023", Leuven, Belgium, 17-21 July 2023
- 2014: MESA workshop in Pisa: slides and Notes
Memberships
- 2024 - now: Senior member of CeNAM (Frontiers in Nuclear Astrophysics)
- 2024 - now: Member of the MESA developers team,
- 2024 - now: SO values committee member, Steward Observatory
- 2023 - 2024: AAS Full Member
- 2023: Member of the "Flatiron Institute Professional Development" committee
Extracurricular academic training
- 2025: Phantom SPH workshop - University of Arizona
- 2024: AAS/APS Equity Educator Workshop - Equitable and Inclusive Classrooms (virtual)
- 2024: ATHENA-k workshop - University of Arizona
- 2020: Introduction to Machine Learning, Flatiron Institute
- 2019: Presentation skills course, University of Amsterdam
- 2017: How to effectively supervise University of Amsterdam
- 2016: How to master your PhD, University of Amsterdam
- 2015: Scientific writing, Nova school, Astron
- 2014: MESA summer school, KITP, UCSB
- 2013: Gravitational-wave astrophysics School, Caltech
- 2012: Academic English writing (C1 level), University of Pisa
Teaching
Main instructor
- Summer 2025: KU Leuven. MESA summer school
- Spring 2025: AST400A "Theoretical astrophysics - Stellar evolution", website
- Fall 2024: AST400A "Theoretical astrophysics - Stellar evolution", archived website
Teaching assistant or Instructor
- 2018: University of the Chinese accademy of Science. Simulating stars MESA school
- 2017 - 2018: University of Amsterdam. Open problems in modern astrophysics
- 2016 - 2017: University of Amsterdam. Open problems in modern astrophysics
- 2015: University of California Santa Barbara. MESA summer school
- 2015 - 2016: University of Amsterdam. High energy astrophysics (radiative processes and accretion flows), taught by Prof. S. Markoff
Mentoring
Postdoc & Fellows
- 2025-present - Koushik Sen
- 2024-present - Aldana Grichener (Steward Observatory Theory Fellow/IAU-Gruber Fellow/CHE Fellow)
Students
- PhD/graduate
- 2025-present - Fiona Han (University of Arizona)
- 2024-present - Neev Shah (University of Arizona)
- 2023-present - Tom Wagg (University of Washington → fellow at CCA)
- 2023-2025 - Aldana Grichener, Brandon Barker, Camille Landri, Kaila Nathaniel, Tom Wagg (MPA/Kavli astrophysics summer program)
- 2021-2022 - Ebrahim Farag (Arizona State University → fellow at Yale)
- 2020-2022 - Chengcheng Xin (Columbia University)
- 2019-2020 - Fraser Evans (University of Leiden, → fellow at CITA)
- Master
- 2017- present - David Hendriks (master thesis, University of Amsterdam → PhD student at University of Surrey → fellow at University of Surrey)
- Bachelor/undergraduate
- 2024-present - Deekshitha Alladi (University of Arizona)
- 2024-2025 - Christian Burt (University of Arizona, → PhD at University of Heidelberg)
- 2021 - Ho Sang Chan (AstroComNY summer project)
- Summer 2021 - Nathalia Torres (AstroComNY summer project)
- Summer 2020 - Asmaa Elsayed (AstroComNY summer project)
- 2017 - Max Briel (bachelor thesis, University of Amsterdam → PhD at University of Auckland, now postdoc at Geneva Observatory)
- 2016 - Floor Broekgaarden (bachelor thesis, University of Amsterdam → PhD student at Harvard, now faculty at UCSD)