Born in Bologna (Italy) on 9 April 1968.
1982 - 1987:
She attended the local Scientific High School.
19 March 1993:
She graduated ``maximum cum laude" in Astronomy
at the University of Bologna (Italy), discussing the thesis:
``Evolutionary evidence from blue galaxy counts": a theoretical study,
in collaboration with Prof. G. Zamorani of Bologna Observatory, on
galaxy evolutionary models to reproduce faint field galaxy samples
selected in the blue band.
1993:
After graduation she worked in collaboration with Dr. E. Zucca and
Prof. G. Zamorani
of Bologna Observatory, to study early--type galaxy luminosity function,
and the effect of incompleteness on its Schechter parametrization.
March - August 1994:
She has spent a period of 5 months at the
``Landessterwarte'' of Heidelberg (Germany), with an european fellowship
(EEC program No. CHRX-CT92-0033) to continue theoretical studies
about galaxy counts and galaxy evolution in collaboration with Prof.
G. Bruzual, director of the ``Centro de Investigaciones de
Astronom{\'\i}a''
of Merida (Venezuela), guest of such Observatory.
November 1994:
She began a three years Ph.D. course in Astronomy
at the University of Bologna (Italy).
The subject of the Ph.D. thesis is the study of galaxy evolution
using faint field galaxy samples in several band, from UV to near-IR,
in collaboration with Prof. G. Zamorani of Bologna Observatory,
and with official tutor Prof. G. Setti, director of the Departiment
of Astronomy at Bologna's University.
April - June 1995:
During her Ph.D. course she holded a fellowship of 3 months at
the ``Centro de Investigaciones de Astronomia" in Merida
(Venezuela),
where she has continued her studies about galaxy evolution in
collaboration
with Prof. G. Bruzual, director of such Observatory.
July 1996 - March 1997:
She has spent a period of 9 months
in Baltimore (USA), at the ``Space Telescope Science Institute",
as a graduate student, to work in collaboration with Dr. P. Madau and
Prof. H. Ferguson of such institute. The aim of such collaboration was
to study the effect of intergalactic attenuation on galaxy evolution
models
and in particular to compare such models with the most deep field
observed with HST, the ``Hubble Deep Field", in order to investigate the
star
formation history at high-z.
February 1998:
She finished the Ph.D course discussing the thesis:
``Galaxy evolution models from UV to near-IR: comparison with
ground-based
surveys and with the Hubble Deep Field".
1998-2000:
She holded a 2 years Post-doc fellowship of CNAA to spend
at ``Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri" (Firenze, Italy) in
collaboration
with Dr. A. Cimatti and Dr. F. Mannucci. The aim of such collaboration
is
to investigate, through an optical/near-IR survey (archive data
HST/WFPC2 +
ESO2.2/IRAC2),
the nature of the Extremely Red Galaxies (EROs), candidate to be high-z ellipticals
(z>1)
and/or dusty starbursts.
April 2000:
research astronomer at the Osservatorio Astronomico di Bologna, Italy.
Research activities
Theoretical and experimental study of galaxy evolution:
* Galaxy properties: Spectral classifications and evolution (age from spectra fitting) Photometric redshift, Stellar Mass, age, SF from multi-band photometry;
High-redshift galaxies: LBGs, EROs, BzK; Ellipticals; Galaxy counts and resolved optical Extragalactic Background Light.
* Statistical studies: Evolution of Luminosity and Mass Function and Star/Mass Formation History
* Modeling and comparison: Phenomenological models of galaxy evolution in optical/NIR. Comparison with models and simulation (eg. GIF, GALICS, Millennium)
The main research topics of our group are:
* Optical: Evolution of optical luminosity Function and SFH up to z=1.5
* Near-IR: Evolution of the NIR LF & Stellar Mass Function and Mass density up to z=2; Evolution of early-type galaxies at z >= 1
National and International
Appointments, working-group
memberships & policy committees:
2002-2003: member of the TAC of of ESO Observing Programmes Committee (OPC): panel A (cosmology)
National & International collaborations:
* zCOSMOS: PI: S. Lilly (ETH Zurigo);
* zCOSMOS-SINS/SINFONI: PI.: A. Renzini (INAF-Padova);
* EUCLID-NIS: PI: A. Cimatti (Univ. Bologna);
* LSD: PI: F. Mannucci (INAF- Osservatorio di Arcetri);
* VVDS: PI: O. Le Fevre (Marseille);
* GMASS: PI. A. Cimatti (Osservatorio di Arcetri);
* K20: PI. A. Cimatti (Osservatorio di Arcetri);
Teaching activities
Co-tutor of several Thesis works to obtain the Master Degree in Astronomy at the
University of Bologna:
1-Luca Angeretti:"Effetti di selezione in brillanza superficiale nella rivelazione di galassie deboli: teoria e confronto con un modello di evoluzione in luminosita'" . Universita' degli studi di Bologna - Laurea in Astronomia - Bologna (dal 2000 fino al 2001)
[tutor: Prof. Bruno Marano].
2-Giulia Caira:"L'attivita' di formazione stellare in galassie selezionate in banda K fino a z~2" . Universita' degli studi di Bologna - Laurea in Astronomia - Bologna (dal 2003 fino al 2004) [tutor: Prof. Bruno Marano]
3-Lorenzo Brandi:"Formazione stellare in un campione profondo di galassie selezionate in banda radio" . Universita' degli studi di Bologna - Laurea in Astronomia - Bologna (dal 2003 fino al 2004) [tutor Prof. Bruno Marano]
4-Silvia Dicesare: "Evoluzione cosmologica delle proprieta' spettrali di un campione di galassie "early type" selezionato nella survey zCOSMOS" . Universita' degli studi di Bologna - Laurea in Astronomia - Bologna (dal 2007 fino al 2008) [tutor: Prof. Andrea Cimatti]
5-Jacopo Chevallard: "Evolutionary constraints on early type galaxies from spectrophotometric data" . Universita' degli studi di Bologna - Laurea in Astronomia specialistica - Bologna (2009) [tutor: Prof. Andrea Cimatti]