, LERMA,
which I joined in January 2013. My research focusses on the role of active galactic nuclei
(AGN) in galaxy evolution. I am also interested in gas-kinematic black hole mass measurements
and black-hole scaling relations. My main area of
expertise is optical and near-infrared integral field
spectroscopy ("3D spectroscopy"). I have also led observation programs at millimetre wavelengths
using single-dish and interferometric techniques. Furthermore, I have
experience with using N-body/Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) codes for simulating galaxy mergers.
After receiving my PhD from the University of Cologne
(Germany) in 2005, I spent four years as an ESO Fellow in Chile. My ESO Fellowship
included functional work at the ESO La
Silla Observatory, where I was a support
astronomer at the NTT
(New Technology Telescope) and an instrument scientist of
the optical imager SuSI2 (Superb Seeing Imager 2) and the
near-infrared imager and spectrograph SofI (Son of ISAAC).
After leaving Chile in May 2009, I was a Research Fellow at the Research School
of Astronomy and Astrophysics of the Australian National
University (ANU) until end 2012. In
Australia, I started to work on integral field
spectroscopy of AGN host galaxies and mainly used data obtained
with the Wide Field Spectrograph (WiFeS) at the ANU
2.3 m telescope at Siding Spring.
