I am an Associate Professor in the Physics and Astronomy Department at the University of New Hampshire. My research focuses on numerical simulations in general relativity. I study merging compact objects (black holes and neutron stars), and model the gravitational wave and electromagnetic signals (gamma-ray bursts, optical/infrared transients) that they emit, as well as their role in the production of heavy atoms such as gold and platinum. I am also a member of the SxS Collaboration, the Network for Neutrinos, Nuclear Astrophysics, and Symmetries (N3AS), and the Nuclear Physics from Multi-Messenger Mergers collaboration.

In the past, I have also studied the evolution of accretion disks, both in the context of accretion onto supermassive black holes and for the formation of planetary systems.

I obtained engineering degrees from both the Free University of Brussels (ULB) and the Ecole Centrale Paris (ECP) in 2005, before moving to the United States for my PhD. I graduated from Cornell in 2011. I then worked for 3 years as a post-doctoral fellow at the Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics (CITA) in Toronto, and for 3 years as a NASA Einstein post-doctoral fellow at the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab (LBL).

Research Interests

    • Mergers of black holes and neutron stars in binaries

        • Gravitational wave signals detectable by LIGO/VIRGO/KAGRA

        • Electromagnetic counterparts to binary mergers: Gamma-ray bursts, Kilonovae

        • r-process nucleosynthesis: production of gold, platinum, uranium...

        • Neutron star equation of state

        • Initial data problem for general relativistic simulations

    • Slowly accreting supermassive black holes

      • Modeling accretion disks for black holes being imaged by the Event Horizon Telescope (Sgr A*, and the black hole at the center of the M87 galaxy)

    • Numerical simulations in general relativity

      • Magnetohydrodynamics

      • Radiation transport

      • Weakly collisional plasmas and non-ideal fluid effects

    • Long term evolution of accretion disks

      • Protoplanetary disks in binary systems

      • Tidal disruption events

      • Evolution of warps and twists in accretion disks