Benedetta Vulcani

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Education:

2009-2011: Ph. D. in Astronomy - mention of Doctor Europaeus - Universita’ degli Studi di Padova.

Supervisor dr. Bianca M. Poggianti. "The evolution of the galaxy mass assembly and star formation activity from z=1 to z=0 as a function of environment". Aim of my thesis was to investigate the role of the galaxy stellar mass, environment and redshift in shaping galaxy properties. I have been analyzing the star formation rates in clusters and comparing them with the same quantity in the field. I have also been studying the mass distribution and the ellipticity distribution of cluster galaxies at different redshifts, in order to characterize their evolution. I was mainly interested in contrasting the role of the global and local environment in shaping the mass distribution. My research was based on the analysis of four surveys: the WIde-field Nearby Galaxy-cluster Survey (WINGS) (0.04<z<0.07) (Fasano et al. 2006,  AAp 405, 805), the ESO Distant Cluster Survey (EDisCS) (0.4<z<0.8) (White el al. 2005, AAp, 444, 365), the IMACS Cluster Building Survey (ICBS) (0.4<z<0.8) (Oemler et al. 2013, ApJ 760, 61) and the Padova Millennium Galaxy and Group Catalog (PM2GC)  (0.04<z<0.1) (Calvi et al. 2011, MNRAS 416, 727).

 

2006 - 2008: Master Degree in Astronomy - Universita’ degli Studi di Padova. 110/110 cum laude.  

Supervisor dr. Monica Lazzarin. 2008, October 14th. "Mineralogical analysis of asteroids near the main Main-Belt resonances and their possible contribution to the origin of Near Earth Objects'' (in collaboration with IAC (E)). 

 

2003 - 2006: Bachelor Degree in Astronomy - Universita’ degli Studi di Padova}. 108/110.

Supervisor prof. Sergio Ortolani. 2006, September  21st. "Interstellar Dust in the Solar System" ("Polveri interstellari all'interno del Sistema Solare").

 

1998 - 2003: High School Degree. Liceo Scientifico Statale G. Oberdan, Trieste. 100/100.

 

Personal Grants, Awards and Achievements:

ARC DECRA Fellowship 2016

Establishment grant, University of Melbourne 2016

JSPS Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B) 2014-2015

Gratton Prize 2013 special mention for one of the best Italian thesis in 2011-2012

Fondazione Gini grant 2009 for spending 5 months at the Carnegie Observatories in Pasadena, California (working with                     dr Alan Dressler) and 4 months at the University of Nottingham, UK (working with dr. Alfonso Aragon-                           Salamanca)   

Erasmus grant 2008 for spending a period of 6 months in Tenerife (@IAC - Canary Island, E)

                       

Additional Grants:

INAF GO Grant 2023: Identifying ram pressure induced unwinding arms in cluster spirals,  P.I: B. Vulcani, 50.000 EUR

PRIN Mur 2022: INSIGHT: Unveiling ionized gas properties in galaxies with JWST, P.I: B. Vulcani, 216.745 EUR

INAF Mini Grant 2022: Tracing filaments through the cosmic time, P.I: B. Vulcani, 18000 EUR

INAF Large Grant 2022: Extragalactic Surveys with JWST, P.I.: L. Pentericci (Vulcani local coordinator, 91000 EUR)

ASI 2019: Environmental processes at work in galaxy clusters: triggering of the AGN activity and development of X-ray tails., P.I.: A. Moretti , 50.000 EUR.

Main Streams 2018: A multi-wavelength view of the gas stripping phenomena in galaxies, P.I.: B.Vulcani, 35.500 EUR.

PRIN MIUR 2017: Opening the ALMA window on the cosmic evolution of gas, stars and super- massive black hole, P.I.: A. Cimatti, 838.446 EUR.

PRIN SKA 2016: Empowering SKA as a probe of galaxy evolution with HI, P.I.: L. Hunt, 411.000 EUR.

ASI 2016: Galaxy clusters in X-rays: the buildup of massive structures in the last 10 Gyrs., P.I.: S. Ettori, 60.000 EUR.

PRIN MIUR 2009: Nature and evolution of superdense galaxies., P.I.: M. D’Onofrio, 120.000 EUR.

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2018-: National responsible of 1 contract to manage the funding of INAF to support the MICADO activities (430000 EUR)

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Total amount of funds managed: >1.2 MEUR.

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Organizer of Scientific Meetings:

SOC member of the International Conference “Galaxy Groups in the era of eROSITA and Euclid: a multiwavelength view”, Sexten (I) 2024, Sept 10-13

SOC member of the National Conference “Clusters 4”, Trieste (I) 2024, Jul 1-5

Co-Chair of the International Conference “The physical processes shaping the stellar and gaseous histories of galaxies”, Pisa (I) 2024, May 27- 31

Chair of the International Conference “Extreme Galaxies and their Extreme Environments as Probes of Galaxy Formation, Reykjavik (IS), 2024, April 28 - May 2

Co-Chair of the GASP science meeting, Center for Computational Astrophysics (NY), 2023, Oct, 23-27

Co-organizer (together with Y. Bahe’) of “The Baryon Cycle of Protocluster Galaxies", Lorentz Center (NL), 2023, Oct, 9-13

Organizer of MICADO Consortium Meeting 2023, Padova, 2023, Mar, 28 - 30

Chair of the ISSI meeting on Protoclusters, Bern (CH), 2022, Oct, 17 - 21

SOC member of CLUSTER3, Bologna (I), 2022, Sep, 20-23

Chair of the ISSI meeting on Protoclusters, Bern (CH), 2022, Mar, 28 - Apr, 1

Chair of the ISSI kick-off meeting on Protoclusters, virtual, 2021, Nov, 10 - 12

Co-Chair of the special session “The role of nurture on the Star Formation cycle of satellite galaxies” (SS24) at the European Astronomical Society 2021 virtual meeting, 2021, Jun, 30

Co-Chair of the GASP science meeting, Virtual meeting, 2020, Oct, 12 - 16

Co-Chair of the GASP science meeting, INAF-OaPD (I), 2019, May, 13 - 17

Organizer weekly astro-colloquia, Astronomy Department, School of Physics, University of Melbourne, 2017 – 2018

Co-Chair of the Workshop “Getting a Grip on Galactic Girths”, Kavli IPMU (JP), 2015, Feb, 02-06

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Supervision of students and postdocs:

Supervisor of 1 PhD student • Co-Supervisor of 6 PhD students • Supervisor of 7 postdocs • Co-Supervisor of 1 Msc student • Co-Supervisor of 2 Bachelor degree students

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Additional Roles:

• Member of the faculty board of the Doctorate School in Astronomy, University of Padova (I) (2024-)

• External evaluator for a ERC-StG proposals (2024)

• Member of various Internal committee to admit the PhD candidates to the final evaluation (University of Padova, I) (2019-)

• Reviewer of International master theses (2020-)

• Reviewer for funding for various programmes (e.g. the ESPRIT Programme of the Austrian Science Fund, Swiss National Foundation, Qatar National Research Fund

• Elected member of the management Board of INAF - OaPD (2023-)

• Elected member of the INAF-Comitato Scientifico Nazionale (CSN), for the Scientific area 1: Galaxies and Cosmology)

• Reviewer and TAC member of major telescopes proposals (ESO, ALMA, JWST, HST, CFHT)

• Italian Coordinator within the MICADO (Multi-AO Imaging Camera for Deep Observations, one of the first-light instruments for the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT)) Consortium on behalf of INAF (2018-)

• Member of committees for assigning six various post doc positions, INAF-OaPD (2018-)

• President of committees for assigning three post doc positions, INAF-OaPD (2018-)

• Organizer of the weekly colloquies, Astronomy Dept., School of Physics, Univ. of Melbourne 2017 - 2018

• Assessor for the Australian Research Council as proposal reviewer 2016-2018

• Mentor at the University of Melbourne for the DECRA applicants 2016-2018

• Paper Reviewer for “Nature Astronomy”, “The Astrophysical Journal”, “Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society”, “Astronomy & Astrophysics”, “Publications of the Astronomical Society of Japan” “Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics”, “Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia”, EP

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