In Summary

I am an observational astronomer and since October 2021 I am an associate scientist at GEMINI. Previously, I was an Archive Science Engineer in the ESO's Archive Science group (outsourced from Terma GmbH). I have also been a visitor of the Max-Planck-Institut für Astrophysik in Garching bei München, and a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California in Santa Barbara and at the Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie in Heidelberg. I am part of the ENIGMA group led by Joe Hennawi and of the Pan-STARRS team quasars led by Fabian Walter. I did my PhD at the Università degli Studi dell'Insubria and my undergraduate studies at the Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca (with some months at the Universität Zürich). My research is mainly focused on the study of quasars and blazars from the local Universe up to the the end of the Cosmic dark ages at z≈7. In particular, I am interested on their clustering properties and on the study of their circum-galactic medium. I am first-author of 11 refereed publications and co-author of more than 100 additional ones. I have extensive experience in observations and am P.I. of more than 50 observing proposals. I participated to the organization of 6 conferences and of the astronomy seminars at UCSB, MPIA, and Gemini.

VLTs in Cerro Paranal

Job Career

Oct. 2021 → Today
Associate Scientist at the GEMINI observatory [Hilo, Hawai'i, USA].

Oct. 2020 → July 2021
Archive Science Engineer in the Archive Science group at the European Southern Observatory (outsourced from Terma GmbH) [Garching bei München, Germany].

Jan. 2020 → Sept. 2020
Archive Science Engineer in the Archive Science and Operations groups at the European Southern Observatory (outsourced from Terma GmbH) [Garching bei München, Germany].

Jan. 2019 → Sept. 2021
Visitor at the Max-Planck-Institut für Astrophysik [Garching bei München, Germany].

Jan. 2019 → June 2019
Temporary Researcher at the Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie [Heidelberg, Germany] in the group of Fabian Walter.

Dec. 2017 → Dec. 2018
Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of California, Santa Barbara [Santa Barbara, USA] in the ENIGMA group led by Joe Hennawi.

Sept. 2013 → Nov. 2017
Postdoctoral Fellow at the Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie [Heidelberg, Germany] in the group of Fabian Walter.

Nov. 2012 → Aug. 2013
Temporary Research Fellow in Astronomy and Astrophysics at the Università degli Studi dell'Insubria [Como, Italy] in the group of Aldo Treves.

Academic History

UniversitaInsubria

Ph.D.

Università degli Studi dell'Insubria

2012 — Dottorato di Ricerca (Ph.D. equivalent) in Astronomy & Astrophysics at the Università degli Studi dell'Insubria [Como, Italy] under the supervision of Aldo Treves.
Thesis Title: Physical and Projected Pairs of Quasars.

UniversitaBicocca

M.Sc.

Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca

2009 — Laurea Specialistica (MSc) at the Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca and at the Universität Zürich under the supervision of Monica Colpi, Peppo Gavazzi, and Lea Giordano.
Thesis Title: Globular Cluster Systems in Virgo Cluster's Dwarf Galaxies.

UniversitaBicocca

B.Sc.

Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca

2006 — Laurea Triennale (B.Sc.) at the Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca under the supervision of Monica Colpi and Bernadetta Devecchi.
Thesis Title: Gravitational encounters of BH binaries in globular cluster.

Selected Talks and Seminars

Jul. 2023 — EAS 2023 [Krakow, Poland].
The circum-galactic medium of the first quasars, insights from a Pan-Chromatic view

Feb. 2023 — The Multiphase Circumgalactic Medium [Ringberg, Germany].
What are we learning about the CGM of the first massive galaxies?

Oct. 2022 — Cosmic Dawn with the JWST [Ringberg, Germany].
Shedding Light on Early Structure Formation: Dissecting the Largest Gas Reservoirs of z=6.6 QSOs

Sept. 2022 — What matter(s) around galaxies 2022 [Champoluc, Italy].
What shapes the circum-galactic medium of the first quasars? A Pan-Chromatic view

Jul. 2021 — EAS 2021 [Leiden, Netherlands].
The first quasars, now in 3D

Oct. 2020 — 2020 EIROforum Topical Workshop on Big data [online].
Mining the Southern Sky via the ESO Archive: Data--streams, cross matching, and forward look

Jul. 2020 — EAS 2020 [Leiden, Netherlands].
Cross validating new surveys with 40 years ESO archival spectra

Jan. 2020 — IfPU Colloquia [Trieste, Italy].
The circum-galactic medium of massive galaxies from dawn to noon

Jan. 2020 — FAME at INAF [Bologna, Italy].
Ly-Alpha halos around high-z quasars

Dec. 2019 — ESO AGN club [Garching bei München, Germany].
The circum-galactic medium of massive galaxies from dawn to noon

Dec. 2019 — Galaxy coffee at MPIA [Heidelberg, Germany].
Once upon a time in a quasar far, far away... A tale from your favourite MUSE

Oct. 2019 — CGM Berlin 2019 [Berlin, Germany].
From Cosmic Dawn to Noon: (non-)Evolution of the CGM in the first 3 Gyr of the Universe.

Sep. 2019 — KIAA Forum on Gas in Galaxies 2019 [Beijing, People's Republic of China].
The REQUIEM survey: a statistical study of the quasars CGM at the Cosmic Dawn.

Jun. 2019 — EWASS 2019 [Lyon, France].
The REQUIEM survey: a statistical study of the quasars CGM at the Cosmic Dwan. Poster presentation.

Jun. 2019 — Universitäts-Sternwarte München Colloquium [München, Germany].
Pushing MUSE at its edge: Probing Quasars Circum-galactic Medium at the Cosmic Dawn

May 2019 — MPE OPINAS seminar [Garching bei München, Germany].
Pushing MUSE at its edge: Probing Quasars Circum-galactic Medium at the Cosmic Dawn

Jan. 2019 — ESO AGN club [Garching bei München, Germany].
The First Quasars and their surroundings.. A tale from your favorite MUSE.

Mar. 2018 — New York University Lunch Talk [Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates].
Feeding primordial monsters: Guidelines on how to grow a supermassive black hole in the young Universe.

Oct. 2017 — ESO AGN club [Garching bei München, Germany].
The birth of the giants: Where do the first quasars form?

Oct. 2017 — Università degli Studi di Milano Bicocca [Milano, Italy].
The birth of the giants: Where do the first quasars form?

Sep. 2017 — Cosmic Mergers: from Massive Black Holes to Massive Clusters - Invited [Birmingham, UK].
The birth of the giants: Where do the first quasars form?

Jul. 2016 — ITA "blackboard" Colloquium [Heidelberg, Germany].
Chasing Lyα Haloes at z>6

Jun. 2016 — Illuminating the Dark Ages: Quasars and Galaxies in the Reionization Epoch [Heidelberg, Germany].
Chasing Lyα Haloes at z>6

Feb. 2016 — IMPS Winter Writing Workshop [Esalen Institute, US].
Hunting for Lyα Haloes at z>5.5

Sep. 2015 — Università degli Studi di Milano Bicocca [Milano, Italy].
Exploring the high-z Universe with Pan-STARRS1 or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Quasars

Jul. 2015 — ESO thirty minute talk [Santiago, Chile].
Exploring the high-z Universe with Pan-STARRS1 or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Quasars

Jul. 2015 — Seminarios Astrofísicos [Valparaíso, Chile].
Exploring the high-z Universe with Pan-STARRS1 or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Quasars

Jun. 2014 — Science Results from Pan-STARRS1 [Baltimore, US].
Towards a Complete Sample of z~6 Quasars: New Insights from Pan-STARRS1.

Jun. 2014 — Intergalactic Matters [Heidelberg, Germany].
The MgII absorbing Circum-Galactic Medium of quasars.

Jun. 2013 — Tuorla Observatory Seminar Series [Turku, Finland].
Two is better than one: unveiling the environment of quasars with pairs and triplets.

Jun. 2013 — The Physical Link Between Galaxies and their Halos [Garching, Germany].
The Circum-Galactic Medium of Quasars. Poster presentation.

May 2013 — OATS-UNI/TS Seminar - Invited [Trieste, Italy].
Two is better than one: unveiling the environment of quasars with pairs and triplets.

Apr. 2013 — Astrolunch at Astron [Dwingeloo, Netherlands].
Beyond the pair (discovery of a new quasar triplet).

Sep. 2012 — AGN10 national meeting [Roma, Italy].
On the cool gas halos of quasars.

Jun. 2012 — IAC talk [La Laguna, Spain].
The optical variability of the MAGIC blazar PKS 1222+216.

Apr. 2012 — Interacting Galaxies and Binary Quasars: a cosmic rendezvous [Trieste, Italy].
Exploring the cold gas halo of QSOs.

Nov. 2011 — Galaxy coffee at MPIA [Heidelberg, Germany].
Optical line variability: the case of PKS 1222+216.

Oct. 2011 — ADAE 2011 [Palermo, Italy].
Optical line variability: the case of PKS 1222+216.

May 2010 — AGN9 national meeting [Ferrara, Italy].
Close-by quasar pairs from the SDSS. Poster presentation.

Observing Experience

I have more than 100 nights of experience in optical/infrared observations at various facilities. This includes several nights at >8m-class (VLTs, Kecks, and Gemini), and multiple nights at 4m-class telescopes. Additionally, I observed for one month with the MAGIC Cherenkov telescopes, making myself familiar with observations in the high energy domain.

Telescopes in La Silla

Successful Proposals (as P.I.)

I am the P.I. of more than 50 observing proposals. In particular, I was awarded more than 500 hours of optical/NIR spectroscopy to probe the properties of the population of z=6-7 quasars (including a 147 hours large program with ESO VLT/MUSE and 13.8 hours with JWST). I also started a programme aimed at exploring the properties of multiple quasar systems at millimeter wavelengths (using ALMA and IRAM/NOEMA) and I am collecting data to explore the properties of the circum-galactic medium of massive galaxies at 2 < z < 7 with ALMA and ESO/VLTs.

Teaching Experience

2012 — I taught selected undergraduate classes for the course Introduction to Astronomy held by Prof. A. Treves at the Università degli Studi dell'Insubria [Como, Italy].

2007 → 2008 — Tutor for the course Physics 1 held by Prof. A. Pullia at the Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca [Milano, Italy].

Awards and Fellowships

2023 — Shedding Light on Early Structure Formation: Disecting the Largest Gas Reservoirs of z=6.6 QSOs. $202,796 JWST grant.

2023 — A young lenses quasar at cosmic dawn. $26,703 HST grant.

2008 → 2009 — EXternal TRAining fellowship. Awarded to promising Master Degree Thesis by the Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca and by Fondazione Cariplo.

Conference and Meeting Organization

Jun. 2023 — EAS 2023 [Krakow, Poland].
Chair of the Special Session: The universe in 3D: past, present, and future of integral field spectroscopy

Aug. 2022 Sep. → Today — Gemini North Talk series [Hilo, Hawai'i].
Founder and organizer

Jun. 2021 — EAS 2021 [Leiden, Netherlands].
Chair of the Symposium: Massive Galaxies - The Build-up of Monsters Through Cosmic History

Sep. 2019 — Multiple-phase ISM: probing the activities and power engines from local to distant universe [Beijing, People's Republic of China].
Scientific Organizer.

Sep. 2018 Sep. → Dec. 2018 — UCSB Astro-Lunch [Santa Barbara, USA].
Member of the SOC.

Jun. 2016 — Illuminating the Dark Ages [Heidelberg, Germany].
Member of the LOC.
#DarkAgesHD

May 2016 — MPIA Galaxies and Cosmology Group Retreat [Heidelberg, Germany].
Scientific and Logistic Organizer
#GalaxiesAndCosmology2016

Mar. 2015 → Oct. 2017 — MPIA Galaxy Coffee [Heidelberg, Germany].
Organizer.

Jun. 2014 —Intergalactic Matters 2014 [Heidelberg, Germany].
Member of the LOC.

Non Academic Talks

Jun. 2020 — Contribution to Super-QUARK on the Star Dance Around Supermassive Black Hole [Garching bei München, Germany].
Interview for the Italian broadcast RAI.

Jun. 2018 — How far are the stars? [Santa Barbara, USA].
One lesson to introduce astronomy to 2-5 years old children.

Nov. 2017 — Meet an astronomer [Bresso, Italy].
Four lessons to introduce astronomy to kids.

Sep. 2016 — Heidelberg Laureate Forum visit MPIA/HdA [Heidelberg, Germany].
Conversation on Astronomy and Astrophysics for young researchers.

Jan. 2013 — Liceo Paolo Giovio [Como, Italy].
Lectures on Astronomy and Astrophysics for high school students.

Jun. 2011 — Lesmo Amica: Serata informativa per i Referendum [Lesmo, Italy].
Public lectures on radioactivity in nature.

Mar. 2011 — Emmeci2 La relatività tra fisica e filosofia [Palazzolo, Italy].
Public lectures on special relativity.