I am an Associate Professor at the Institute of Astro- and Particle Physics at the University of Innsbruck. I was previously an Assistant Professor in the Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics at the University of Toronto.
I am a researcher, teacher and instrument specialist who has extensive experience as an observational astronomer, including seven years of experience as a space mission scientist at Caltech for two of the world’s leading space telescopes, Spitzer and Planck.
I am also the Programme Coordinator for AstroMundus, a 2-years Erasmus+: Erasmus Mundus Joint Master Degree programme in Astronomy and Astrophysics that has just ended (March 2020). In June 2017, AstroMundus was selected as a "success story" by a panel of experts from the Directorate-General for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture of the European Commission.
My main research interests are in extragalactic astronomy and include the study of many different aspects of galaxy formation and evolution such as star formation activity and the interstellar medium, central massive black holes and black hole accretion activity, dark matter, dwarf galaxies, galaxy clusters and cosmology.
View of CFHT and the Gemini-North Telescope from the top of Mauna Kea (taken by F. Marleau).