Profile

A noteworthy fact about me: There is a mathematical function of relevance in the field of Astrophysics that bears my name ($\to$ Wikipedia entry)

I am a Mexican-German computational astrophysicist. My research is centred on the problem of galaxy formation and evolution. My goal is to understand how galaxies acquire and process the matter from which they form and grow. The approach I follow consists in trying to understand the observed properties of galaxies in the real Universe through complex numerical models. My activity is focused on --but not restricted to-- designing, running and analysing the outcome of N-body, gravito-hydrodynamic simulations.

Currently, I am a research fellow at the Centre for Integrated Sustainability Analysis, University of Sydney as part of the OASSIS project. I also work part-time as a postdoctoral research associate at the Sydney Institute for Astronomy (SIfA) in Sydney in the group lead by Prof. Joss Bland-Hawthorn.

I started my education at the Alexander-von-Humboldt Schule in Mexico-City, and continued it at the Colegio Alemán de Guadalajara until graduation. I studied Physics (B.Sc.) at the Universidad de las Américas-Puebla (UDLAP) in the beautiful town of Cholula, after which I moved to Germany, and obtained my Masters Degree (M.Sc) in Physics and later my Doctor of Philosophy Degree (Dr.rer.nat) in Astrophysics from the Georg-August Universität zu Göttingen. I spent a couple of years as a teaching assistant, and later as a research associate at the Institut für Physik und Astronomie of the Universität Potsdam (Potsdam) in the Extragalactic Astrophysics group, lead by Prof. Dr. Philipp Richter. My work during this period centred on the study of the intergalactic medium (IGM) using absorption spectroscopy, in close collaboration with Prof. Joop Schaye from the Leiden Observatory.

I am native in Spanish and German, and fluent in English and Italian. I use the Mac OS and UNIX/LINUX operating systems in my everyday activities. I have advanced knowledge of Fortran (77/90), ANSI C, Python, and LaTeX, as well as Web Development (HTML, CSS, JavaScript). I also have a long-term experience in High-Performance Computing (OpenMPI), and strong analytic skills geared towards problem-solving oriented thinking.

Above all, I am an avid athlete. In particular, I am a dedicated long-distance runner, a regular surfer, an occasional snowboarder (winter-conditions permitted) and rock climber; and a PADI certified advanced open water diver. Informal soccer playing and (beach) volleyball are on the list as well.