Resumé - as of August 2025

I'm a computational spectroscopist, deeply passionate about astronomy, data science, and quantum chemistry. I believe that data challenges, while domain-specific, share trasnferable principles across disciplines. This is why I value interdisciplinarity in science, as it brings new and fresh perspectives!

I am also committed to outreach, science communication, and teaching. I love writing popular science articles, designing engaging infographics, and leading interactive workshops that not only communicate scientific concepts to different target audiences, but also celebrate and amplify the work of underrepresented scientists.

Research and technical skills

Software and Programming

Experienced in ab initio and DFT methods for atomic-scale simulations, energy convergence and geometry optimisation troubleshooting, and method benchmarking.
Worked with quantum chemistry software including Gaussian, Q-Chem, and Molpro.
Proficient in Python, R, SQL, and Unix/bash scripting for data processing, automation, and analysis.
Designed and maintained high-throughput computational pipelines on high-performance computing (HPC) environments for quantum chemical simulations.
Experienced with Power BI dashboard development for interactive data reporting and tracking.

Publications

Led 6 first-author publications; co-author of 3, with 200+ citations; h-index: 7. Published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, The Astrophysical Journal Letters, The Journal of Physical Chemistry A, Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Computational Molecular Science, among others.

Peer Review

Refereed paper for the Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics (PCCP) Journal on astrochemistry, quantum chemistry, and spectroscopy related topics.

Science communication and Outreach

Author of popular science articles published in Astrobitos en Español (Spanish and English) covering current research across astronomy, quantum chemistry, and planetary science (500+ engagements).
Interviewed by Astronomy Magazine (Aug 2025 issue) for a feature story on biosignatures and the role of quantum chemistry in identifying unknown spectral features in exoplanet atmospheres.
Designed and delivered workshops, posters, and infographics to communicate research findings to both specialist and general audiences.
Experienced writing and reviewing research proposals and peer-reviewed manuscripts.

Professional experience

Data Scientist (Feb 2024-Present)

Social Research Centre

Develop and maintain scalable R pipelines for data acquisition and quality assurance supporting national and state-level social surveys.
Optimise SQL workflows for large-scale database operations (10k+ records), including panellist tracking, inactive record removal, and custom view creation for accessibility.
Contribute to internal R package development, writing reusable functions to manage data integrity (e.g. record insertion, deletion, sampling logic).
Design and deploy interactive Power BI dashboards to monitor performance of Life in Australia™, the nation’s most methodologically rigorous survey panel.
Maintain real-time sample validation tools and tracking systems to ensure high-quality, consistent data across survey cycles.

Science Writer (Feb 2024-Present)

Astrobites

Write science communication stories about recent astronomy breakthroughs, published in Spanish and English
Translate complex technical concepts into engaging and accessible narratives
Create and/or edit images, graphics, figures, and diagrams that help visualise and understand core concepts and workflows in the story better.
Proof-read colleagues draft articles to ensure readability and provide feedback that helps enhance the reach, scientific rigour, and accessibility of the article.
Published 10+ articles reaching over 500 readers across platforms.

SciX Mentor Lead and Lab Demonstrator (Jan 2021-Jan 2024)

University of New South Wales

Led the Quantum Chemistry & Spectroscopy group for 3 years at the UNSW SciX Summer School, mentoring 40+ high school students in computational chemistry research aligned with the HSC Extension Science syllabus.
Designed educational content and coding tutorials for UNSW’s Python in Chemistry course.
Delivered and demonstrated hands-on tutorials and labs to 90+ university students in computational chemistry, quantum chemistry, and data science.
Co-designed and delivered interactive experiences at science outreach events, including the Astro Spectroscopy stand at ECxSE (engaging 100+ multidisciplinary visitors).
Participated in week-long regional school visits in NSW, delivering interactive science workshops to over 800 primary and secondary students.
Invited as a panel speaker on equity, diversity, and inclusion in STEM education and outreach.

Education

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Computational Spectroscopy (2020-2023)

University of New South Wales

Thesis: Quantum chemistry meets astrobiology: Approximate vibrational spectral data for potential biosignatures. Full thesis here.
Designed and implemented a high-throughput Python pipeline integrated with HPC schedulers to run and manage 2700+ quantum chemistry simulations across molecular systems relevant to exoplanet atmospheres.
Performed vibrational frequency and dipole moment calculations using quantum chemistry methods including DFT, MP2, and CCSD(T)(F12*), benchmarking their accuracy and computational cost trade-offs.
Experienced using and troubleshooting multiple quantum chemistry packages including Gaussian, Q-Chem, ORCA, and Molpro.
Worked with processed telescope data to study the atmospheres of exoplanets WASP-33b and HD 189733b, finding potential molecular candidates to unknown features in their atmospheric spectra.
Curated a benchmark database of 1295 experimental IR spectra, used to assess and refine DFT accuracy thresholds by functional group and vibration type.
Awards:
Led 6 peer-reviewed publications, with additional contributions to 3 others across quantum chemistry, astrochemistry, and astrobiology.
Participated in science communication and outreach programs reaching 300+ members of the public via talks, workshops, and infographics focused on underrepresented scientists.

Bachelor of Science, Chemistry (Average 4.2/5.0) (2014-2019)

Universidad Icesi (Cali, Colombia)

Dean’s List of Excellence Award (awarded to top-performing students in the Faculty of Science).
Research project (Honours equivalent in Australia) thesis: Shape Resonance Analysis of KRb
Modified existing algorithms in Fortran and Mathematica to introduce new functionality reducing computational time and expanding their application to more complex systems.

Outreach and community engagement

A more detailed description of my outreach and community engagement experience can be found in this page.

Co-designed and co-delivered the Astro Spectroscopy stand at the Earth Conservation X Space Exploration (ECxSE) event as part of the 2023 National Science Week x UNSW. Engaged with 100+ visitors ranging different disciplines and ages (Aug 2023).
Delivered 2 chemistry workshops (leading one of them) on wildlife forensics and biosignatures to 100+ HSC students as part of the UNSW Gateway Winter Program (July 2023).
Participated in the UNSW Science Postgraduate Research Showcase, presenting a 1-minute-long talk and a poster about my research to a general science audience (won the best poster 2023 award) (June 2023).
Open lecture at the Sutherland Astronomical Society (SASI) explaining how chemists help astronomers finding new molecules in exoplanet atmospheres using computational chemistry (April 2023).
Designed 4 infographics describing and amplifying the work of queer Latin-American scientists as an individual initiative to celebrate Sydney World Pride 2023 (Feb 2023).
Wrote a 500-word biography showcasing and celebrating the contributions made by Colombian astronomer Julio Garavito Armero as part of the UNSW Science History Trail (April 2023).
Designed 4 infographics (in both English and Spanish) showcasing and amplifying the contributions made by different Colombian scientists (July 2021).
Open lecture on explaining how scientists look for alines in space to retirees at the University of the Third Age (U3A) (Nov 2020).
Collaborated writing a communication article that explains the need for a follow-up study to evaluate the tentative detection of phosphine (PH3) in the cloud decks of Venus (Sep 2020).
Participated in a week-long outreach visit to primary and secondary schools in regional NSW engaging with 800+ students through different workshops in chemistry (July 2019).
Worked as an outreach demonstrator at UNSW delivering chemistry workshops to 40+ senior high school students, and engaging in two-hour interviews with first-year students talking about research and academic experiences (2019-2023).
Outreach demonstrator at Icesi Interactiva (Cali, Colombia); an event bringing high school students and their parents closer to chemistry (2015-2018).

Conferences, Talks, and Posters

Talks and Presentations

HITRAN research visit, Cambridge MA, July 10-14 2023. "Empowering the search for molecules in exoplanet atmospheres through high-throughput quantum chemistry"
2023 Australasia Astrobiology Meeting, Sydney, June 13-15 2023. "Involving Senior High School Students in the Scientific Search for Outer Space Life"
Royal Australian Chemical Institute (RACI) 2022 National Congress, Brisbane, July 3-8 2022. "Spectroscopy in the classroom: Using Jupyter Python notebooks to explain complex scientific concepts"
International Symposium on Molecular Spectroscopy (ISMS), online, June 20-24 2022. "Model chemistry recommendations for scaled harmonic frequency calculations: A benchmark study"
Australian Institute of Physics (AIP) Summer Meeting, Brisbane, Dec 6-9 2021. "High-throughput calculation of approximate vibrational spectra: Prioritising potential molecular detections"
Royal Australian Chemical Institute (RACI) 2021 PhysChem Summer Festival, Sydney, Nov29-Dec3 2021. "Harmonic frequency calculations: Looking for alternatives to the B3LYP/6-31G* model chemistry"
International Symposium on Molecular Spectroscopy (ISMS), online, June 20-24 2021. High-throughput calculations of approximate vibrational spectra
Royal Australian Chemical Institute (RACI) PhysChem Webminars, online, Sep 2022. High-throughput calculation of approximate spectral data: Prioritising potential molecular detections

Posters

2023 Sagan Exoplanet Summer Hybrid Workshop, Pasadena CA, July 24-28 2023. "Empowering the search for molecules in exoplanet atmospheres through high-throughput quantum chemistry"
2023 Australasia Astrobiology Meeting, Sydney, June 13-15 2023. "Enhancing the Search of Molecules in Exoplanet Atmospheres Using High-throughput Quantum Chemistry" (AAM2023 Best Poster Award Runner Up)
Royal Australian Chemical Institute (RACI) 2022 National Congress, Brisbane, July 3-8 2022. "Model chemistry recommendations for harmonic frequency calculations: A benchmark study"
LatinXChem 2021 Twitter Conference, online, Sep 9 2021. "High-throughput calculation of approximate spectral data: Prioritising potential molecular detections" (Honourable mention in the computational chemistry category)
Astronomical Society of Australia (ASA) Annual Science Meeting, online, July 9-11 2021. "High-throughput calculation of approximate spectral data: Prioritising potential molecular detections"
43rd COSPAR Scientific Assembly, online, Jan28-Feb4 2021. "Computational spectra for potential biosignatures: i) Phosphorus-containing molecule"
LatinXChem 2020 Twitter Conference, online, Sep 7 2020. "Cost-effective computational predictions of dipole moments"
236th Meeting of the American Astronomical Society, online, June 1-3 2020. "Computational IR spectra for potential biosignatures"
VII National Congress of Theoretical and Computational Chemists (Colombia), Barranquilla, Sep 9-12 2018. "One-step photoassociation dynamics of ultracold alkali atoms"

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