Education

Ph.D. in Physics, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS): July 2009. Advisor: Prof. Thaisa Storchi-Bergmann

B.A. in Physics, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul: 2003

Positions

10/2019 – present Associate Professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Universidade de São Paulo (USP)

4/2014 – 9/2019 Assistant Professor, USP

2013 – 3/2014 Postdoctoral Research Scientist, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center/CRESST/University of Maryland Baltimore County

2010 – 2013 NASA Postdoctoral Program Fellow, NASA GSFC

2009 – 2010 Postdoctoral researcher, UFRGS

2007 – 2008 Visiting Research Scholar, Penn State (host: Michael Eracleous)

2005 Visiting Research Scholar (Alfa Fellow), Durham University

Awards and Scholarships

2015 Miriani Pastoriza Prize of the Brazilian Astronomical Society (Prêmio SAB)

2015-2019 Membro Afiliado da Academia Brasileira de Ciências (Junior Member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences)

2009 NASA Postdoctoral Program Fellowship

2005 – 2009 CNPq Graduate Research Scholarship (Brazil)

2005 Alfa/LENAC (Latin-American European Network for Astrophysics and Cosmology) Graduate Research Scholarship (Europe)

Professional Activities and Recognition

• Referee for Astrophysical Journal (ApJ), ApJ Letters, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (MNRAS), MNRAS Letters, Astronomy & Astrophysics (A&A), Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics (JCAP), Classical and Quantum Gravity (CQG), International Journal of Modern Physics D (IJMPD), Acta Polytechnica
• Proposal reviewer for NASA (panelist), CNPq, FAPESP, Gemini Observatory, Fermi Observatory, SOAR, William Herschel Telescope
• Scientific Organizing Committee for Torus Workshop (San Antonio, 2012), Breaking the Limits: Super Eddington accretion on compact objects (Sicily, 2016), Intelligent signal processing for frontier research and industry (São Paulo, 2016), São Paulo school of advanced science on high energy and plasma astrophysics in the CTA era (São Paulo, 2017), IAU Symposium 342: Perseus in Siciliy—from black hole to cluster outskirts (Sicily, 2018), Radio Galaxies: Resolving the AGN phenomenon (Vienna, 2018)
• NASA Senior Review 2014: Co-writer of the Fermi Telescope Senior Review to the 2014 NASA Senior Review Committee (Fermi perspectives on the Galactic Center)

Publications

More than 50 publications with first author papers in Science, Astrophysical Journal and Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

h-index = 41

8245 citations (Jan. 2022)

Please see my publications page.

Press and Outreach

• Research press releases: My research has been featured in NASA press releases and several major newspapers and websites. This includes BBC News, USA Today, Astronomy Magazine (“Top ten space stories of the year” cover story), Science Magazine, ars technica, National Geographic, Fox, Folha de São Paulo, Zero Hora and Revista Pesquisa FAPESP.
• General: I regularly give interviews on diverse scientific topics for major radio shows, newspapers, magazines and popular science websites including National Geographic, Fantástico (Rede Globo), Folha de São Paulo, Zero Hora, Rádio CBN.
• Outreach events: Since 2008, I have regularly been giving astronomy outreach presentations at different events. My youtube science talks have gathered >150k views. For more information, please see my website.

See my press page.

Management experience

• Research group leader (Black Hole Group) since 2015
• Currently supervising research projects of 6 graduate students and 2 undergraduate students
• Results: The group has published more than 30 papers in leading scientific journals; graduated 3 PhDs, produced 5 MsC thesis; attracted over US$320k in grants and donations

Departmental service

Deputy head of IAG’s Research Committee (vice-presidente da Comissão de Pesquisa). Since 2020

Head of graduate school admissions, Astronomy Department USP. 2017-2019

Editor of Sao Paulo Astronomy Network Newsletter (SPAnet News). Since 2019

Colloquium organizer, 2015-2017