Resumé - as of July 2026
I'm a quantum chemist and data specialist passionate about data science, exoplanets, science education, and science communication!
I'm a quantum chemist and data specialist passionate about data science, exoplanets, science education, and science communication!
The University of Sydney
Develop Python-based automation workflows to generate education committee agendas, progress reports, and support documentation, reducing manual preparation time and improving consistency of reporting.
Design and maintain data storage and traceability processes supporting curriculum revision projects, including version history, audit trails, and backup procedures to improve data governance.
Implement data validation, testing, and quality assurance workflows to improve data harmonisation, interoperability, and reliability for downstream analysis and operational decision-making.
Coordinate industry engagement and outreach activities for Chemical Engineering students, liaising with 20+ industry partners, managing visit logistics, and developing briefing materials that connected academic learning outcomes with professional practice.
Social Research Centre
Managed and monitor the operational database underlying the Life in Australia™ probability-based research panel, supporting a national panel of 10k+ participants across 20+ relational database tables storing participant records, recruitment information, and project-level survey data.
Designed data-driven solutions to oversee key aspects of the database lifecycle, including large-scale record updates from annual profile refreshes, recruitment intake, and the retirement and archival of participant records.
Developed automated data pipelines in R and SQL and database processes that support participant sampling, panel health monitoring, incentive allocation tracking, and compliance processes such as PII data removal following project completion.
Designed and maintained interactive Power BI dashboards used by researchers, statisticians, and operational teams to monitor survey fieldwork performance, panel engagement, demographic composition, and project progress in real time.
Created SQL database views and reporting infrastructure that simplify access to complex relational data, enabling non-technical stakeholders to independently explore key metrics and reducing reliance on manual data extraction.
Produced technical documentation, user guides, and walkthrough sessions to support the adoption of analytics tools and ensure stakeholders can confidently interpret dashboard metrics for operational planning and reporting.
Maintained version-control standards (GitHub) to ensure code integrity, transferability, and transparency.
Astrobites
Wrote science communication stories about recent astronomy breakthroughs, published in Spanish and English
Translated complex technical concepts into engaging and accessible narratives
Created and/or edited 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.
University of New South Wales
Led the Quantum Chemistry & Spectroscopy group at UNSW SciX Summer School, mentoring 40+ senior high school students in research-based learning aligned with the HSC Extension Science syllabus.
Coordinated enrolment logistics and project allocations for 100+ students, managing project quotas, reallocations, and comms with participants to ensure equitable access and smooth program delivery.
Supported program scheduling and timetable coordination, organising mentor sessions, project meetings, and guest lectures to ensure efficient program delivery.
Designed and developed teaching and training materials including lectures, computational tutorials, and Python notebooks to support student learning and mentor-led project delivery.
Organised and coordinated guided tours to 5+ UNSW research facilities, liaising with academic staff, lab managers, and safety officers to manage scheduling, capacity limits, and safety compliance.
Coordinated 10+ guest speakers across undergraduate, postgraduate, and academic career stages, managing scheduling, speaker communication, and session logistics.
Designed and implemented program evaluation surveys for students and mentors, analysing feedback to inform program improvements and support mentor retention strategies.
Contributed to the development of the UNSW Chemistry Depth Study on Characterising Exoplanet Atmospheres using Quantum Chemistry, designing inquiry-based activities and scaffolded learning materials aligned with curriculum learning outcomes.
Developed interactive coding tutorials and modules for the UNSW Honours course Python in Chemistry; materials later adopted faculty-wide.
Delivered professional development workshops for high-school teachers, introducing computational tools and data-science applications in chemistry as part of the Data to Discovery module.
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.
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.
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.
A more detailed description of my outreach and community engagement experience can be found in this page.
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.
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).
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"