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Physicist & astronomer, I am an AURA/STScI Scientist at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore. I am part of the JWST/NIRCam team, Lead of the JWST Coronagraphs Working Group and Expert & Liaison to the ROMAN Coronagraph Instrument teams at JPL & IPAC. 
My research focuses on constraining our understanding of the demographics, formation and migration mechanisms of long period giant extra-solar planets and brown dwarfs in young and dusty circumstellar environments (e.g. proto-planetary disks). For that, my colleagues and I use high angular/contrast imaging/spectroscopy/polarimetry techniques to image or detect directly photons from these planets.
Research interests:
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Short Bio
After completing a Master in Instrumentation Physics from the University of Utah in 2000, I obtained a 2nd Master in Astrophysics at UGA/IPAG (Grenoble) in 2001 and my PhD in 2005 at UCBL/CRAL (Lyon), validating the concept of polychromatic laser guide star, on-sky. I also spent 3 years in Mexico City as a Postdoctoral Fellow at IA-UNAM and as Assistant Professor at IPN-ESFM before joining ESO in August 2009 . During 8 years I was Operations Staff Astronomer at ESO, spending my time between Santiago and the Paranal Observatory in the Atacama desert, northern Chile. Adaptive Optics specialist, I have been the lead Instrument Scientist of the VLT instruments SPHERE and NACO. In 2017, I joined STScI to work on the NASA/ESA/CSA missions JWST and ROMAN (formally WFIRST). Enjoying public outreach, I am one of the ESO Photo Ambassadors. |
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Outside of Work
I am an avid amateur of "world" music, traditional music forms from everywhere. I play (badly) the violin since age 6. I enjoy taking photographs, practicing/playing sports, hiking and cooking (eating!). More than anything, I love to travel and embrace different cultures. Recently (and more so with covid), I took up gardening and urban "mini farming".
I am an avid amateur of "world" music, traditional music forms from everywhere. I play (badly) the violin since age 6. I enjoy taking photographs, practicing/playing sports, hiking and cooking (eating!). More than anything, I love to travel and embrace different cultures. Recently (and more so with covid), I took up gardening and urban "mini farming".
