néstorespinoza
Astrophysicist
Néstor Espinoza
Assistant Astronomer & Mission Scientist
STScI (Baltimore, USA) | Full CV in PDF version
Education
Ph.D. in Astrophysics 2012 – 2017
Instituto de AstrofísicaPontificia Universidad Católica de Chile
Summa cum laude.
Licenciate in Astronomy 2007 – 2012
Instituto de AstrofísicaPontificia Universidad Católica de Chile
Summa cum laude.
Research Experience
Mission Scientist 2023 – present
- Oversee support of exoplanet science for both the JWST and the HST missions at STScI.
Assistant Astronomer 2019 – present
- Development of an independent research project on exoplanet detection and characterization and part of the INS Divison Office as the Mission Scientist for exoplanet science at STScI.
Bernoulli Fellowship 2017 – 2019
- Development of an independent research project on exoplanet atmospheres jointly between the Max-Planck Institute for Astronomy (2 years) and the University of Bern (2 years).
Kavli Summer Program in Astrophysics 2016
Research Intern (PI: Jonathan Fortney)
- Performed astrophysical modelling of protoplanetary disks in order to predict the composition of giant exoplanet atmospheres as part of the Kavli Summer Program in Astrophysics. This work was done under the supervision of Jonathan Fortney and Yamila Miguel.
Millenium Institute of Astrophysics 2013 – 2017
Research Assistant (PI: Andrés Jordán)
- Software development, data analysis and astrophysical interpretation of time-domain astronomical phenomena, focused on the detection of extrasolar planets. This included developing fast algorithms for obtaining high precision photometry, radial velocities and high spatial resolution imaging.
Department of Statistics, Faculty of Mathematics (PUC)2012 – 2014
Research Assistant (PI: Susana Eyheramendy)
- Spent 2 years working on the automated classification of variable stars using Machine Learning algorithms.