About

I am an astrophysicist working for the European Space Agency, stationed at the European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC), Noordwijk, The Netherlands. I am Lead Project Scientist for the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) Mission.

For my science I’m interested in Intermediate-Mass Black Holes in dense stellar systems such as Globular Clusters and Nuclear Star Clusters. Most of my work during my PhD was concentrating on the dynamical states of the centers of galactic Globular Clusters to look for signatures massive central black holes. Later on I shifted my work also towards black holes in the centers of nearby galaxies and our own Milky Way. I have been working with observational data (mostly Integral Field Units), N-body Simulations and AMUSE simulations.

CV

EMPLOYMENT
since Jan 2024LISA Lead Project Scientist
ESA/European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC),
Noordwijk, Netherlands
Apr 2020 – Jan 2024LISA Study Scientist
ESA/Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI),
Baltimore, USA
Aug 2015 – Jul 2023NIRSpec Instrument and Calibration Scientist
ESA/Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI),
Baltimore, USA
Oct 2013 – Aug 2015Postdoctoral Research Fellow
ESA/European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC),
Noordwijk, Netherlands
Oct 2010 – Jul 2013Clusters of Excellence PhD Student
European Southern Observatory,
Garching, Germany
Sep 2008 – Dec 2008Student Internship
Institute for Astronomy (IFA),
Manoa, USA

Feb 2007 – Apr 2007		Student assistant at the Free Electron Laser (FEL) group Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munich, Germany
EDUCATION


Oct 2010 – Jul 2013		PhD in Astronomy (Summa Cum Laude)
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Munich
Title: ”Intermediate-mass black holes in globular clusters”
Supervisor: Dr. Markus Kissler-Patig

Oct 2005 – Oct 2010		Diplom/Master in Physics (with distinction)
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, München, Germany