Past positions

1991-1992: Pre-doctoral Fellow at the High Energy Astrophysics Division, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, MA (USA)

1993-1995: Post-doctoral Fellow at the European Southern Observatory (ESO), Garching (Germany)

1995-1997: Post-doctoral Fellow at the Astronomy Department , University of Bologna (Italy)

1998-2014: Researcher at the Astronomy Department (Department of Physics and Astronomy since 2012) of the University of Bologna.

Current position

Associate Professor at the Department of Physics and Astronomy (DIFA) of the University of Bologna, since 2014.

Teaching

Lecturer, contributing lecturer, or assistant to the laboratory activities, for various courses at the University of Bologna since 1998:
for the Laurea degree in Astronomy: Fisica Spaziale, Astronomia I and Astronomia II, Laboratorio di Astronomia, Elementi di Programmazione I, Astrofisica Extragalattica and Fisica Generale 1;
for the Laurea Magistrale degree in Astrophysics and Cosmology: Formazione ed Evoluzione delle Galassie, Astrofisica delle Galassie (Astrophysics of Galaxies since 2022), Calcolo Numerico e Statistica;
for the Laurea degree in Energy Engineering: Fisica Generale T-A;
for the PhD in Astronomy: course Astrophysics of Galaxies.
Member of various exam committees for the Laurea in Astronomy and the Laurea Magistrale in Astrophysics and Cosmology.
Member of the graduation thesis committee for the Laurea Magistrale in Astrophysics and Cosmology, from 2006 to 2015.
Member of the Collegio dei Docenti (Faculty board) of the PhD in Astronomy, from 2002 to 2018.
Supervisor or co-supervisor of various theses for the Laurea degree in Astronomy, and the Laurea Magistrale in Astrophysics and Cosmology; co-supervisor of PhD students.
Premio Tacchini X edition (national prize for the best PhD thesis in Astrophysics of the year 2014) awarded to the supervised PhD student S. Posacki, for the PhD thesis "The dynamics of early-type galaxies as a tool to understand their hot coronae and their IMF".

Associations and memberships

Member of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) since 2006, within the Divisions D (High Energy Phenomena), H (Interstellar Matter and Local Universe), J (Galaxies and Cosmology). Member of the Commissions H1 'The Local Universe', X1 'Supermassive Black Holes, Feedback and Galaxy Evolution' (Cross-Division D-J Commission), and J2 'Intergalactic Medium' (Inter-Division B-H-J Commission).
COSPAR (Committee on Space Research) Associate since 2008, affiliated to the Scientific Commission E (Research in Astrophysics from Space).
INAF associate since 2005.

Scientific activity

Main fields of interest

Normal and active galaxies, and galaxy clusters, especially on topics related with their observations in the X-ray band. Main research areas include:
origin and evolution of the hot interstellar matter in early-type galaxies, and its interactions with the cold (HI) and warm (ionized) gas phases;
relationships between the X-ray emission and other fundamental properties of early-type galaxies (luminous and dark mass distribution, internal kinematics, age, optical surface brightness, radio emission);
interaction of the central supermassive black hole with the surrounding interstellar medium;
properties of the X-ray binary population in early-type galaxies;
origin of the metals in the interstellar and intracluster medium;
The investigation techniques used comprise the analysis of observational data, the building of dynamical models for galaxies and clusters, hydrodynamical simulations, and the direct comparison between models and observations, as those obtained with the X-ray satellites Chandra and XMM-Newton.
An updated list of publications can be found here.

International collaborations

Long term collaboration, since 1991 to date, with scientists of the High Energy Astrophysics Division of the Center for Astrophysics (CfA) in Cambridge (MA, USA), in particular with drs. G. Fabbiano, and D.W. Kim. Collaboration with prof. J.P. Ostriker (Columbia University, NY, USA) and coworkers.

Organization of scientific conferences and workshops

Series of biennial workshops on Dark Matter, at the Astronomy Department of the University of Bologna; titles: "Luminous and dark matter in galaxies and clusters of galaxies" (May 2005), "Dark matter in galaxies and galaxy clusters" (June 2007), "Dark haloes from the smallest to the largest scales" (June 2009), "Dark matter from globular clusters to clusters of galaxies" (June 2011).
Organizer, and co-chair of the Scientific Organizing Committee, of the meeting "Accretion and ejection in AGN: A Multiwavelength View", for the 37th Scientific Assembly of the Committee on Space Research (COSPAR), for the subject "Research in Astrophysics from Space" (Montreal, July 2008).
Proponent and organizer, together with dr. D.W. Kim (CfA), of the Joint Discussion "Hot Interstellar Matter in Elliptical Galaxies", for the XXVII General Assembly of the International Astronomical Union (IAU), August 2009.
Member of the Scientific Organizing Committee of the Joint Discussion "Dark Matter in Early Type Galaxies", for the XXVII General Assembly of the IAU, August 2009.
Member of the Scientific Organizing Committee of the international workshop "X-ray View of Galaxy Ecosystems", Boston (MA, USA), July 2014.

Editorial activity

Co-editor of the proceedings of the Joint Discussion "Hot Interstellar Matter in Elliptical Galaxies", organized for the XXVII IAU General Assembly; published in "Highlights of Astronomy", vol. 15, Cambridge University Press, 2010.
Editor (together with D.W. Kim, CfA) and co-author of the book "Hot Interstellar Matter in Elliptical Galaxies", published in 2012 by Springer for the Astrophysics and Space Science Library Series.

Activity as reviewer/referee

Chandra X-ray observatory: member and chair of the panel "Clusters and Normal Galaxies'', for the review of observing proposals.
Referee for the selection of the "Progetti Strategici di Ateneo", funded by the University of Bologna (2006).
Reviewer for the MIUR (Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research) of the research programs in the ERC categories "Interstellar medium", "Formation and evolution of galaxies", and "High energy and particles astronomy", since February 2012.

Last updated: February 2021