Teaching & Outreach Experience

2014   Instructor of the course ”Exploring stars and the Milky Way” at the Swinburne University of Technology, in Melbourne, Australia.

2013   Instructor of the course ”Introduction to particle physics and high energy astrophysics” at the Swinburne University of Technology, in Melbourne, Australia.

2013   Editor of the Conference Proceedings ”370 Years of Astronomy in Utrecht”;
           Given a couple of lectures about planets and the solar system at an elementary school in Hilversum.

2000-2013   Astronomy Project Supervisor of scientific reports by master students enrolled at Swinburne University in Melbourne, Australia, (topics: Solar Neutrinos, Gamma Ray Bursts, The First Stars, Ultra-luminous X-ray sources, Adaptive Optics, Terrestrial versus Jovian Planets, Soft Gamma-Ray Repeaters, Redshift Controversy).

2012   Co-chair of the SOC (Scientific Organizing Committee) and chair of the LOC (Local Organizing Committee) for the conference ”370 Years of Astronomy in Utrecht”, aimed to   highlight 370 years of astronomy in Utrecht (1642-2012), because the University in Utrecht announced to close the Astronomical Institute after 370 years. At this conference we reviewed the contributions to astronomy done by the institute and discussed the continuation of its tradition elsewhere. The conference was hold in The Netherlands in April 2012.      Proposed and co-organized the public lecture which concluded the conference and in which the portrait of Minaart was donated to the observatory in Utrecht.

           Given a public lecture about black holes and relativity at the observatory in Utrecht.

2011   Invited to give a public lecture about cosmology and relativity at an Italian high school. 

2008-2010   Unpaid maternity leave.

2002  Astronomy course assistant at the Department of Astronomy of the University of California at Santa Cruz.

          Astronomy Project Adviser for the COSMOS (High School students were introduced to university studies), program at UCSC; 

          Writer of astronomy articles for an Italian on-line magazine.

2001  Astronomy course assistant at the Department of Astronomy of the University of California at Santa Cruz.

          Astronomy Consultant for the planetarium update and astronomy curricula at the Hartnell College in Salinas, California.
          Astronomy instructor for the Upward Bound Program organized by the Center for Adaptive Optics at the University of California in Santa Cruz organized for high school students of under represented groups.

          Joined a 2-weeks workshop on "enquiring and teaching" science for high schools at Maui, Hawaii.
          Writer of chapters for an astronomy interactive CD-ROM created for students by the Swinburne University of Technology, in Melbourne, Australia.