Stellar Astrophysics: observation and modeling of the circumstellar environment (circumstellar envelopes around evolved stars, debris disks around main seqence stars); study of mass loss processes in pulsating variable stars; physics of stellar distance indicators (Cepheids, RR Lyrae); search of planetary mass companions in the solar neighborhood.
Instrumentation: support for the in-flight calibration, test and scientific verification of the NASA Spitzer Space Telescope InfraRed Array Camera (IRAC). Techniques for High Contrast Imaging of bright stellar sources.
Astro 346: Introduction to Astrophysics
Astro 344L: Astronomy Lab
Education and Academic History
2013 - present: Associate Professor, Physics & Astronomy, Iowa State University
2009 - 2013: Assistant Professor, Physics & Astronomy, Iowa State University
2003 - 2009: Astrophysicist, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
2000 - 2003: Postdoctoral Research Associate, Harvard-Smithsonian CfA
1997 - 2000: Smithsonian Predoctoral Fellow, Harvard-Smithsonian CfA
2000: Ph. D. in Astrophysics, SISSA/ISAS, Trieste, Italy
1993: Laurea cum Laude (M. Sc.) in Physics, University of Torino, Italy