Barbara Ercolano leads group “Theoretical Astrophysics”

Since December 2010 all ten Junior Research Groups (JRG) of the Excellence Cluster Universe have been completed. The JRG “Theoretical Astrophysics” is being led by Professor Barbara Ercolano. Born and raised in Italy, Barbara Ercolano received her PhD in 2002 from the University College London, where she developed the first 3D Monte Carlo photoionisation code (MOCASSIN) for the transfer of electromagnetic radiation in a variety of gas and dust environments from star-forming regions to supernova remnants.

The following years Barbara Ercolano held postdoctoral positions at the Harvard University and the University of Cambridge, where she further developed the MOCASSIN code. In 2009 she was awarded the five year UK Science and Technology Facility Council Advanced Fellowship for theoretical work on star and planet formation. One year later Barbara Ercolano received the Royal Astronomical Society Fowler Prize for the development and application of the MOCASSIN code.

After a short stay as lecturer at the University of Exeter (UK), Barbara Ercolano accepted the position as a professor for Theoretical Astrophysics at the Universitäts-Sternwarte at the LMU in Munich and as a Junior Group Leader at the Excellence Cluster Universe.

At the Cluster, Barbara Ercolano will continue to focus on computational Astrophysics. Her research group will be part of the Cluster’s research area G, which emphasis on the question of how the Universe was enriched with heavy chemical elements.