Biography
About
I'm a heliophysicist working at the intersection of radiation belt dynamics, magnetospheric turbulence, and data-driven space weather forecasting. Based in Chile since 2022, I lead the HelioFísica y Clima Espacial research group at USACH.
Education
2019 — Ph.D.
Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences (Space Physics), UCLA
Thesis: "Influence of the solar wind on the dynamics of relativistic electrons in the Earth's radiation belts"
2014 — M.S.
Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, UCLA
2011 — M.S. (Summa Cum Laude)
Physics, Universidad de Chile
Thesis: "Studies of the turbulence in the Earth's magnetosphere using data from SAMBA and THEMIS"
2006 — B.S. (Cum Laude)
Physics, Universidad de Chile
Academic Experience
2022–present
Assistant Professor, Departamento de Física, USACH
Courses: Introduction to Physics of the Heliosphere, Electromagnetism, Machine Learning using Python, Advanced Python, Data Analysis for Space Sciences, Física Computacional I-IV.
2020–2022
Postdoctoral Research Associate, UNH — Space Science Center
2014–2019
Graduate Student Researcher & Teaching Fellow, UCLA
Summer 2016
Visiting Researcher, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Awards & Recognition
🏆 2023 — Most Read Paper 2021, Space Weather
🏆 2018 — AGU Outstanding Student Paper Award
🏆 2018 — Top 100 Physics Paper 2017, Scientific Reports (28k+ accesses)
🏆 2017 — UCLA/Salesforce Data Science Challenge — 3rd Place
🏆 2011 — Becas Chile Fellowship, CONICYT
Service
📝 Associated Editor, Space Weather (Wiley/AGU) — 2024-present
📝 Journal reviewer: JASTP, Annales Geophysicae, Space Weather, JGR, GRL, Nature Physics
📝 Grant reviewer: NASA, ANID
📝 AGU-SPA Nomination Task Force — targeting underrepresented scientists
Grants
PI: FONDECYT Iniciación 2025 (11251905), FONDEQUIP 2023 (EQM230160), ANID Instalación 2021 (SA77210112), DICYT 2024
Co-I: FONDECYT Regular 2025 (1252149), FONDECYT Regular 2024 (1240281), FONDEF IDEA (ID22I10153), CNPq Conhecimento Brasil, NASA LWS