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CV

Alba Covelo Paz 

PhD student in Astrophysics

Email: alba.covelopaz[at]unige.ch

Phone: +41 22 379 24 87

ORCID: 0000-0002-9672-3005

YouTube

Research experience

High-redshift galaxies with JWST — PhD
University of Geneva, Switzerland
I study the galaxy build-up in the first billion years of the Universe. I use grism spectroscopy from the James Webb Space Telescope to understand how galaxies form stars at redshifts 4-7. 

Sep 2022  Now

Light curve extraction of red giants in open clusters — MSc thesis
Heidelberg-Königstuhl Observatory (LSW), Germany
I used asteroseismology to determine which red giant stars are in the Kepler open clusters. For this, I extracted the light curves of candidate stars using a state-of-the-art difference imaging method on Kepler data.

Sep 2021 — Jul 2022

Asteroseismology — Research assistant
Heidelberg Institute for Theoretical Studies, Germany
I collaborated on light curve extractions for asteroseismology. I was also in charge of the group’s website and was the communications representative.

Sep 2021 — Aug 2022

Asteroseismology — Internship
Heidelberg Institute for Theoretical Studies, Germany
I performed aperture photometry in Kepler data of red giants and extracted their light curves and power density spectra, pursuing asteroseismic results.

Apr — Jun 2021

Stellar populations in the galaxy M33 resolved by HST — BSc thesis
Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain
I selected the stars from a field of the galaxy M33 that would be observed with the MEGARA instrument in the Gran Telescopio de Canarias. For this, I performed PSF photometry on Hubble Space Telescope data, and selected the stars at the tip of the RGB.

Sep 2019 — Feb 2020

Cosmology — Internship
Spanish Research Council (CSIC), Spain
Research initiation in the Gravitation and Cosmology group. I collaborated in theoretical and numerical analysis of quantum cosmological models.

Feb — Jun 2019

Teaching experience (University)

Physics Laboratory III
14 ECTS, 70h
BSc Physics, Université de Genève

Apr — May 2024

Introduction to Astronomy and Astrophysics II
6 ECTS, 180h
BSc Physics, Universität Heidelberg

Apr — Aug 2022

Other teaching experience

Maths & Physics tutor
Scientia Education, Switzerland
Tutoring maths and physics for pre-IB, IB, and A-level students.

Oct 2023 — Now

Jury at the maturity exams
State of Geneva, Switzerland
Maturity exams for physics, mathematics, and application of mathematics (+100 students).

Jun 2023, 2024

Astronomy teacher
Association École & Quartier in Versoix, Switzerland
Astronomy course for the general public — 20h.

Sep 2023 — Feb 2024

English exams supervisor
British Council, Spain
I worked part-time organising and supervising IELTS and Cambridge English exams in different cities in Spain.

May 2017 — Mar 2020

Scientific writing and editing

Senior Scientific Editor
TheScienceBreaker, Switzerland
Authoring, commissioning, and editing manuscripts for the open-access outreach journal TheScienceBreaker.

Apr 2024 — Now

Junior Scientific Editor
TheScienceBreaker, Switzerland

May 2023 — Mar 2024

Conferences

Contributed talk at Observing and Simulating Galaxy Evolution in the Era of JWST
An Hα view of galaxy build-up in the first 2 billion years with NIRCam/grism

Aug 2024, Ascona (Switzerland)

Poster at XVI Meeting of the Spanish Astronomical Society
Hα as a tracer of star formation and burstiness in the first billion years

Jul 2024, Granada (Spain)

Contributed talk at EAS Annual Meeting
Probing the epoch of reionization through spectroscopic redshifts with the JWST FRESCO survey

Jul 2023, Krakow (Poland)

Education

PhD in Astrophysics
University of Geneva, Switzerland

Sep 2022 — Now

MSc in International Education
University of St Andrews, UK

Sep 2024 — Now

MSc in Physics
Universität Heidelberg, Germany

Oct 2020 — Jul 2022

BSc in Physics
Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain

Sep 2016 — Feb 2020

Languages

Spanish (native), English (C2), French (C1), Galician (C1), German (A1).

Outreach

Youtube channel (in Spanish)

Feb 2023 — Now

Guided visits to the Observatory of Geneva (Versoix, Switzerland) 

Sep 2022 — Now

Public observation at La Nuit Est Belle (Choulex, Switzerland) 

Sep 2023

Public talk at Trevinca Astronomy Center (A Veiga, Spain) 

Jul 2023

Article in TheScienceBreaker

May 2023

Mar 2023

Article (in Spanish, page 13) in Ciencia Rias Baixas

2023

Article (in Spanish, page 8) in Ciencia Rias Baixas

2022

Public talk at the Madrid Science Week (Madrid, Spain)

Nov 2019

Press

RTS (in French

2022