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I am a physicist with a PhD in astronomy and astrophysics. Currently I work on the European Space Agency’s Gaia mission as part of the Science Operations Centre at the European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC) close to Madrid, Spain. As a Science Operations Engineer at RHEA Group my aim is to enhance Gaia’s scientific return by supporting the optimisation of the Astrometric Global Iterative Solution (AGIS).

Until January 2020, I worked as Scientist at the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) on the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) project, where I was the technical lead for focal plane and astrometry
in the STScI Telescopes Branch.

My main research interests are the observational study of extrasolar planets and brown dwarfs (objects not massive enough to ignite hydrogen fusion), in particular their discovery and characterisation on the basis of optical/infrared observations with imaging, spectroscopic, and interferometric instruments. I specialised in the use of high-precision astrometry, that is the measurement of stellar positions in the sky plane, obtained from a variety of instruments on ground and in space. To make these measurements possible, I contribute to new instruments and surveys and I develop techniques that push the capabilities of existing facilities.