|
Nationality:
Italian
Place
and Date of Birth: Palermo (Italy), Feb. 8th 1977
Present
Position: Postdoctoral Associate,
MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space
Research
Business
Address: 77 Massachusetts Ave. NE80-6013
Cambridge, MA 02139
Phone:
(617) 258-6596
Fax: (617) 253-8084
email:
testa_at_ space_dot_mit_dot_edu
| 9/04 - present |
Postdoctoral
Associate
at
MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research, Cambridge, MA,
USA Propose,
plan, analyze and publish X-ray spectral observations of late-type and
early-type stars in pre-main
sequence, main sequence, and post-main sequence phase, with the Chandra High Energy Transmission
Grating group led by Prof. Claude Canizares. Propose targets for
guaranteed-time observations. Write related science proposals. Develop
new X-ray spectral diagnostics of coronal plasma. Analyze high
resolution X-ray spectra (Chandra
and XMM-Newton) of magnetic
early-type stars. |
| 8-9/2004 |
Contract as
researcher at the
Osservatorio
Astronomico di Palermo, Italy Carried out the project "Determination of Stability Regimes, and Emission Measure Distribution in Coronal Loops Impulsively Heated": detailed analysis and exploration of parameter space of hydrodynamic models of coronal loops developed during my doctoral research. |
| 2002-2003 |
Predoctoral
Fellow of the
Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center
for Astrophysics, Cambridge, MA, USA Analyzed high resolution Chandra-HETG X-ray spectra of late-type stars at different evolutionary stages and activity levels; carried out survey of coronal plasma characteristics (density, temperature, optical depth, coronal filling factors, etc.) highlighting trends with activity levels. Analyzed EUV spectral (SoHO-CDS) and imaging (TRACE) observations of solar coronal loops. |
| 7/2001 - 7/2004 |
PhD student at Universita' di Palermo Scientific collaboration with researchers at Osservatorio Astronomico di Palermo (OAPa) for the research project of the PhD Thesis (supervisor: Prof. G. Peres). Development of hydrodynamic loop models, using existing numerical code previously developed at OAPa, to reproduce observed characteristics of solar and stellar coronal structures (mainly emission measure distribution). Extensive analysis of solutions as a function of the spatial and temporal distribution of heating. |
| 10-11/2001 4-5/2002 |
Visiting student at the
Harvard-Smithsonian CfA, Cambridge, USA Collaboration with Dr. J. Drake and Dr. E.DeLuca on projects involving X-ray spectroscopy of solar-like stellar coronae (Chandra-LETG observations of Procyon and alpha Centauri) and EUV imaging of solar coronal structures (TRACE EUV narrow-band imaging of solar coronal loops in active regions). |
| 4-6/2001 |
Contract as
researcher at Osservatorio
Astronomico di Palermo, Italy Carried out the project:"Analysis of TRACE observations of solar coronal loops, development of analysis procedures, and construction of a database of TRACE data" |
| 1999-2001 |
undergraduate
student at Universita' di
Palermo, Italy Scientific collaboration with researchers at Universita' di Palermo (Prof. G. Peres, Dr. F. Reale) and at OAPa (Dr. S. Orlando) for the research project of the Laurea Thesis (supervisor: Prof. G. Peres): Development and application of novel methods for spatial and temporal analysis of TRACE EUV narrow-band images od solar coronal loops in active regions; use of hydrostatic loop models as diagnostics tools for coronal plasma |
| 2/2005 |
PhD
in Physics at the University
of Palermo. Title of the PhD Thesis: "Solar and Stellar Coronal
Structures: X-ray and EUV Observations, and Hydrodynamic Modeling" |
| 2/2001 |
University
degree (Laurea) in Physics (grade 110/110
cum laude) at University of Palermo, Italy. Title of dissertation (Laurea Thesis): "Fine Structure and
Variability of Coronal Loops: TRACE Data Analysis and Models" |
| 1995 |
School
leaving certificate
(grade 60/60 with honors) |
Grants, awards, approved observing programs:
| PI of the Chandra proposal (AO8): "X-ray spectral diagnostics of accretion processes in pre-main sequence stars: TWA14" |
| PI of the TNG-SARG program: "Fe photospheric abundance in the single giant HR9024 for the analysis of its X-ray Fe fluorescence emission" |
| PI
of the Suzaku
proposal (AO1 cycle): "Coronal geometry
diagnostics from Fe
fluorescent emission in evolved late-type stars" |
| Co-I of
the Chandra
proposal (AO7): "Young stellar
objects in the e
Chamaleontis group: probing proto-planetary disk systems in the
HD104237 field" ; (PI C.
Canizares, MIT) |
| Co-I of
the XMM
proposal (AO4): "The X-ray emission
mechanism in magnetic
Be stars" ; (PI F. Favata,
ESA) |
| Visiting
Fellow at Harvard
University 2003-2004 |
| Smithsonian
Astrophysical
Observatory Predoctoral Fellowship 2002-2003 at the Harvard-Smithsonian
Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, MA, USA |
| Winner of a PhD studentship at
the University of Palermo |
| Degree thesis mentioned to
compete for the prize "E. Gugino" |
| Release by merit from university
fees in the academic years 1995-96, 1996-97, 1998-99 |
| Winner of a grant to attend the
"Haute Ecole de Formation Superieure INSA (Instituts Nationaux des
Sciences Appliquees)" of Lyon, France, Academic year 1995-96 |
Refereed Publications:
Publications
Oral
Presentations and Posters:
| talk "Young stellar objects in the
epsilon Chamaeleontis group", at
the HEAD meeting, San
Francisco, USA, October 2006 |
| talk "X-ray flare modeling in the single giant HR 9024", at the workshop High resolution X-ray spectroscopy: towards XEUS and Con-X, UCL MSSL, Dorking, UK, March 2006 |
| invited talk "High-resolution X-ray spectroscopy of stars: Chandra view of X-ray stellar activity", at Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, USA, December 2005 |
| poster "Chandra/HETGS detection of fluorescent X-ray emission in the flaring single giant HR 9024" at The Six Years of Science with Chandra Symposium, Cambridge, USA, November 2005 |
| poster "Chemical Composition and Geometry Diagnostics in High Resolution X-ray Spectra of T Tauri Stars" (D. Garcia-Alvarez et al.) at The Six Years of Science with Chandra Symposium, Cambridge, USA, November 2005 |
| poster "X-Ray Diagnostics of Grain Depletion in Matter Accreting onto T Tauri Stars", at the meeting Protostars and Planets V, Hawaii, USA, October 2005 |
| talk "Neon abundance of late-type stars in the solar neighbourhood: measurements and implications", lunch talk, MIT Kavli Institute, Cambridge, USA, October 2005 |
| poster "Study of X-ray optical depth in the coronae of active stars from HETG spectra" at The X-ray Universe, Madrid, Spain, September 2005 |
| poster "X-ray flare modeling in the single giant HR 9024" at The X-ray Universe, Madrid, Spain, September 2005 |
| talk "X-Ray Diagnostics of Grain Depletion in Matter Accreting onto T Tauri Stars", at the "Star Formation in the Era of Three Great Observatories" workshop, Cambridge, USA, July 2005 |
| invited talk "Exploring the solar-stellar
connection through Chandra high resolution X-ray spectra", Naval
Research
Laboratory, Washington DC, USA, July 2005 |
| talk "Ne/O abundance in stellar coronae
and possible implications", MIT Kavli Institute, Cambridge, USA,
March 2005 |
| talk "Hydrodynamic Modeling of Coronal
Loops", Center for Space Research, MIT, Cambridge, USA, November
2004 |
| talk "Emission Measure Distributions in
Loops Impulsively Heated at the Footpoints" at the Solar Coronal Loop Workshop and Solar-B
Discussion, Palermo, Italy, September 2004 |
| talk "Size of Coronal Structures in
Active Stellar Coronae from the Detection of X-ray Resonant Scattering"
at Cool Stars, Stellar Systems and
the Sun 13, Hamburg, Germany, July 2004 |
| poster "Structuring of Coronal Plasma in Active Stellar Coronae from Density Measurements" at Cool Stars, Stellar Systems and the Sun 13, Hamburg, Germany, July 2004 |
| talk "Structuring of Stellar Coronae"
at the Center for Space Research, MIT, March 2004 |
| talk "A Unified View of Solar and
Stellar Coronae" at the Harvard-Smithsonian CfA, November 2003 |
| poster "Hydrodynamic Model of Loops Heated
by Microflares at the Footpoints", AAS/Solar Physics Division Meeting,
June 2003 |
| talk "Hydrodynamic Model of Loops Heated
by Microflares at the Footpoints" at the Coronal Loops Workshop, Orsay,
France, November 2002 |
| talk "Temperature and Density Structure
of Hot and Cool Loops Derived from the Analysis of TRACE Data"
at Magnetic Coupling of the Solar
Atmosphere, Santorini, Greece, June 2002 |
| poster "Temperature and Density Structure
of Hot and Cool Loops Derived from the Analysis of TRACE Data"
at Solar Encounter: the First Solar
Orbiter Workshop, Tenerife, Spain, May 2001 |
| 4-5/2001 High Performance
Computing School at the Osservatorio Astronomico di Palermo, Italy |
Languages:
| Italian |
mother tongue |
| English |
good knowledge (written and
spoken) |
| French |
good knowledge (written and
spoken) [though didn't practice it for long time] |
| Spanish |
fair understanding of written
and spoken language |
Skills:
| Operative
Systems: |
Windows, UNIX, Linux |
| Computer
Languages: |
Fortran 77, Fortran 90, MPI |
| Softwares: |
Microsoft Office, Latex |
| Programming
Environments: |
Interactive Data Language (IDL),
Solar Software (SSW), Interactive Spectral Interpretation System (ISIS) |
Page updated October 2006.
http://space.mit.edu/home/testa/
