Postdoctoral Fellows

Javier Licandro Goldaracena Exoplanets and Solar System

01/05/2013 - 05/05/2014 (Now IAC staff member)
I obtained my PhD at the ULL in 2002. I have been support astronomer at the TNG from 200 to 2002 and of the ING and 2002 to 2007. I came back to the IAC in 2008 with an RyC position. I published more than 100 paper in international journals with referee and adviced 2 PhD thesis at the ULL. My research area is the study of the physical properties of small solar system bodies. I am the PI of the IAC project ?Physics of the interplanetary matter?, and the project scientist of the JEMEUSO-IRCAM project at the IAC.

José Alberto Rubiño Martín Cosmology and Astroparticles
01/09/2013 - 15/12/2014 (Now IAC staff member)
I got my PhD in Astrophysics at the University of La Laguna (ULL) in 2002. Then I moved to the Max-Planck Institut fuer Astrophysik in Munich, as a researcher in the group of Prof. R. Sunyaev. I came back to the IAC in 2005, where I also worked as a "Ramon y Cajal" researcher fom 2008 to 2013. My research area is the study of the Cosmic Microwave Background, the large scale structure of the Universe, physical processes that emit in radio wavelengths, and also galaxy clusters. I'm the project scientist of the QUIJOTE experiment at the IAC .

Mª Jesús Martínez González Solar physics

01/05/2013 - Now
I obtained my PhD at the ULL in 2006. Then I moved to the Obs. de Paris-Meudon as a postdoctoral researcher, coming back to the IAC in 2009, and finally becoming a SO fellow in 2013. My research focuses on the study of the quiet solar magnetism by means of spectropolarimetry, although recently this interest has extended to spectropolarimetry in stars and AGN. Currently I'm in the scientific working group of the MIRADAS-GTC instrument and in the Board of Directors of the Sociedad Española de Astronomia. 

Sergio Simón Díaz Stellar and Interstellar Physics

01/05/2013 - Now
I obtained my PhD at the ULL in 2005. Then I worked at the Observatoire de Paris-Meudon as a researcher, moving again to the Observatoire de Geneve in 2007. I came back to the IAC in 2008 and finally became a SO fellow in 2013. My research is centred in the study of the physical properties of massive stars in the Milky Way and the Magellanic Clouds, also establishing synergies with the study of HII regions and stellar oscillations. I'm currently leading the IACOB project and member of the VLT-FLAMES Tarantula survey collaboration.

Claudio Dalla Vecchia Formation and Evolution of Galaxies
01/11/2013 - Now
In 2005 I obtained my PhD at the Institute for Computational Cosmology (Univ. of Durham, UK). Then, I moved to Leiden Observatory and later on, in 2009, to the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics (Garching). In 2013 I joined the IAC. I am the leader of the newly established numerical/theory group whose main interest is galaxy formation, evolution and dynamics, and the link between observations and simulations. My personal interests are stellar feedback processes, the early universe galaxy evolution and the study of the internal structure of galaxies.

Rafael Barrena Delgado Formation and Evolution of Galaxies

17/12/2012 - Now
I obtained my PhD at the ULL in 2004. Since then I have worked at the IAC, first as a researcher, until 2007, then as a Support Astronomer until 2013, and now as a SO researcher. My research interest is cluster dynamics, including the participation in the international projects DARC and FOGO. I am currently involved in the PLANCK optical follow-up, characterizing the recently obtained SZ cluster catalogue. In addition I actively collaborate with WEAVE spectrograph science group in the study the dynamical state of dwarf galaxies.

Jonay González Hernández Stellar and Interstellar Physics

17/12/2012 - 31/08/2015 (Now Ramón y Cajal Fellow at IAC)
I got my PhD in Astrophysics at the ULL in 2006. Then I moved to the Observatoire de Paris-Meudon as a researcher, moving again to the Univ. Complutense de Madrid in 2009. I came back to the IAC in 2010 as a Juan de la Cierva Fellow and finally became a SO fellow in 2012. My current research involves, among others, studies using high-resolution spectroscopy of X-ray binary systems containing black holes and neutron stars or the search of companions in historical Galactic SNe Ia.

Sergio Hoyer Exoplanets and Solar System

02/11/2012 - Now
I obtained my PhD in 2012 at the Universidad de Chile, then I moved to Tenerife, to work as a SO researcher at the IAC. My main research interest is related to exoplanetary systems. I am currently working on the monitoring and characterization of transiting exoplanets via photometry and/or transmission spectroscopy.

Diego Tescaro Cosmology and Astroparticles

01/10/2012 - 30/09/2015 (now postdoc at INFN-Univ. Padova)
I obtained my PhD in Physics in 2010 at the Institute for High Energy Physics (IFAE) at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Then I worked at the Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare in Pisa. Finally I joined the IAC as a SO Fellow. My current research is related to the precise measurement of light nuclei cosmic-ray flux in the 100MeV-1TeV energy region; the maintenance and development of the MAGIC telescopes readout and data acquisition system; and the study of the extra-galactic medium and sources by means of VHE gamma-rays.

Benjamin Laken Solar Physics

01/05/2013 - 31/07/2014 (Now postdoc at Oslo University)
After obtaining my PhD in the summer of 2010 in Physical Geography from the University of Sussex, England, I moved to Tenerife, Spain, to work as a researcher at the IAC. My primary research themes are designed to improve current understanding of the Earth’s atmosphere and climate, focusing on properties such as aerosols and clouds. In particular, much of my research concerns the field of solar–terrestrial interactions.

Heidi Lietzen Cosmology and Astroparticles

01/09/2013 - Now
I obtained my PhD in 2012 at University of Turku, Finland. After that I worked for one year at Tartu Observatory, Estonia. In 2013 I started as a Severo Ochoa postdoc at the IAC. My field of research is cosmology and particularly the large-scale structure of the universe. This includes groups and clusters of galaxies, and the large-scale superclusters, filaments, and voids. 

Mike Beasley Stellar and Interstellar Physics

15/05/2013 - Now
My main research focus is on the stellar populations and kinematics of nearby extragalactic systems. I am currently working on a project to understand the properties of the disc and halo of our neighbouring galaxy M33 using spectroscopic data taken with GTC and the WHT. I also have ongoing projects to investigate the characteristics of dwarf elliptical galaxies in galaxy clusters and working on new approaches to measure the kinematics of faint stellar systems.

Pilar Montañés Rodríguez Exoplanets and Solar System

15/07/2013 - Now
I obtained my PhD at Queen's University of Belfast in 2002. I joined the Earthshine Project at Big Bear Solar Observatory (BBSO). I won the Fullam Award (Dudley Observatory) in 2002 for a research project focused on the Spectral Characterization of the Earth as an exoplanet. I was Associated Research Professor at BBSO and Support Astronomer at the IAC. Currently, I am focused on the study of the atmospheres of transiting exoplanets. I am leading the XO project at the IAC and participating on several follow up observational campaigns. I am also computing nonlinear hydro models of radial pulsations on SdB stars using several codes.

Sebastián Hidalgo Formation and Evolution of Galaxies

01/07/2013 - Now
I got my PhD in Astrophysics at the ULL in 2006. Then I moved to the Dep. of Astronomy at the Univ. of Minessota as a researcher, moving back to the IAC in 2008. I have worked in the development of a set of algorithms to study the stellar populations of galaxies through their resolved stars and used them in the context of the project Local Cosmology from Isolated Dwarfs (LCID). I am currently focused in the development of a new stellar evolution library which includes the last updated input physics. 

Alina Streblyanska Cosmology and Astroparticles

01/03/2014 - Now
I got my PhD in 2006 at MPE, Germany. After a postdoctoral fellowship at MPIfR, I moved in 2008 to the Instituto de Fisica de Cantabria (CSIC-UC) as a Juan de la Cierva Fellow. In 2012 I moved to the IAC; since March 2014 working as a SO fellow. I am involved in the NASA program "Frontier Fields", the PLANCK and HerMES/H-ATLAS optical follow-ups. My research aim is to advance not only our understanding of the multi-wavelength properties of the high-z sources but also how the observed properties fit to our current models of the galaxies evolution.

Martin Stringer Formation and Evolution of Galaxies
01/04/2014 - Now My research is focused around the theory of galaxy formation and evolution, which includes in turn the physics of star formation, supernovae, active galactic nuclei, and in particular cosmology and the imprints that our evolving Universe leaves on the properties of galaxies. My thesis work was carried out with Andrew Benson at Caltech & Joe Silk in Oxford, and was completed in 2008. After this I moved to Durham to work with Carlos Frenk at the Institute for Computational Cosmology, and then joined Francoise Combes’ group at the Observatoire de Paris, before beginning at the IAC in April 2014. Read more>>

Jorge García Rojas Stellar and Interstellar Physics
17/02/2014 - Now
I obtained my PhD at the ULL in 2006. Then I moved to Mexico as a postdoc researcher and came back to the IAC in 2009 as support astronomer until february 2014. My main research interest is the determination of heavy-element chemical abundances in the ionized interstellar medium. I am currently working on precise determinations of metallicity gradients (mainly from O and C lines) in the Local Group galaxy M33. We work to explore time variations of the metalicity gradient of the galaxy and build strong constraints to the chemical evolution models of M33.

Cristina Zurita Espinosa Formation and Evolution of Galaxies
17/02/2014 - Now
I obtained my PhD at the ULL in 2002. Then, as a researcher, I moved to the 'Observatorio de Lisboa' and returned to the IAC in 2004. Since 2006 I have worked as a Support Astronomer, first at the 'Obs. de San Pedro Mártir' (Mexico), then at the IAC. I'm currently working in data analysis coming from the spectrograph WEAVE. The focus of my research to date has been the study of X-ray binaries systems, which provide us the best opportunity to find black-hole candidates and to study the physics of accretion or the evolution of compact binaries.

Jovo Vranjes Solar Physics
01/01/2015 - Now
My field of research is plasma theory in applications to various plasmas in space and in the laboratory. This has predominantly been multi-component fluid and kinetic plasma description. My thesis was on nonlinear drift waves in magnetically confined fusion plasmas. It was completed in Belgrade and Gothenburg. In the past I have been working in Serbia, Belgium and Japan. More recently I have been a bit more involved in collisional phenomena and their application, to the solar atmosphere.

Chloé Guennou Solar Physics
01/02/2015 - Now
My research interests are mainly focused on solar physics, and especially around the solar atmosphere. I completed my PhD in October 2013 at Institut d'Astrophysique Spatiale in Orsay, France, where my research was devoted to the development of coronal diagnostic tools. Then I spent one year at Columbia University, NYC working on data analysis of polar coronal structures, before starting at the IAC in February 2015.

Davide Ricci Exoplanets and Solar System
01/02/2015 - Now
I obtained my PhD at the University of Liège (Belgium) in 2012, where I studied gravitationally lensed quasars. Then I joined the Observatoire de Haute-Provence (France) and the National Institute for Astrophysics in Bologna (Italy); Later on, at the Astronomy Institute of UNAM in Ensenada (Mexico) I started working in the field of exoplanets,within the TAOS collaboration. I currently work at the IAC in Tenerife to continue my studies on the,characterization of exoplanetary transits.

Elena Manjavacas EMIR / Exoplanets and Solar System
01/06/2015 - Now
She will join the IAC on 2015 June 1st