Research interests:

My research focuses on the observations and the modeling of dust around main sequence stars, i.e., of debris disks and warm and hot exozodiacal dust. In particular, I'm working on

• Observations with the LBT(I), in general and mid-infrared nulling observations of exozodiacal dust in particular
• Observation of exozodiacal dust using near-infrared interferometry (VLTI/PIONIER)
• Combined analytical multi-wavelength modeling and model fitting of spatially resolved data and spectroscopic/photometric data of debris disks
• Observations of debris disks over the whole relevant wavelength range (VLT/SPHERE, VLT/NACO, VLT/VISIR, Herschel/PACS & SPIRE, IRAM 30m/MAMBO-2, ALMA)
• Dynamical modeling of debris disks, planet-disk interaction
• Extreme AO assisted direct imaging search for planets around white dwarfs (VLT/SPHERE)
• The observability of post-main sequence evolution of planetary systems
• Prediction of the observability of debris disks and planet-disk interaction with near-future instruments (ALMA, JWST)

Projects involved:

In addition to smaller observational and modeling projects, I'm a member of several large, international collaborations:

• The LBTI HOSTS (Hunt for Observable Signatures of Terrestrial Planetary Systems) survey
• The ANR EXOZODI project (survey for exozodiacal dust)
• The Herschel Open Time Key Program DUNES (DUst around NEarby Stars, debris disk survey)

Furthermore, I am coordinating the efforts of the FEARLESS (FatE and AfteRLife of Evolved Solar Systems) collaboration, a loose collaboration working on the post-main sequence evolution of planetary systems.

Funding:

I am an associate researcher at the Department of Astronomy and Steward Observatory of the University of Arizona in Tucson. My research is funded through the LBTI project by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of its Exoplanet Exploration Program.