Curriculum Vitae

Postdoc

Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA) | Sept 2025 - Present

At ISTA, I use various large surveys to study variable white dwarfs such as binary white dwarfs that are gravitational wave sources, planets around white dwarf stars, and massive, rapidly rotating white dwarfs that are the merger products of two white dwarfs.

BlackGEM Project Scientist

BlackGEM Consortium | May 2023 - Present

I coordinate the BlackGEM science-team and optimize the scientific output of the project.

Guest Researcher

University of Amsterdam (UvA) | Sept 2025 - Present

VENI Postdoctoral Fellow

University of Amsterdam | July 2022 - June 2025

Working on project "The life and death of white dwarf binary stars" where I used time domain surveys and datamining methods to study double white dwarf binaries, both detached and accreting. (280 kEuro grant)

Postdoctoral Researcher

California Institute of Technology (Caltech) | Sept 2018 - May 2021

Galactic science working group lead for the Zwicky Transient Facility-collaboration; studying compact and ultracompact white dwarf binary systems; machine learning classification of variable stars.

PhD in Astronomy and Physics

Radboud University | Nov 2013 - Aug 2018

Supervisors: P.J. Groot, T. Prince (Caltech), S.R. Kulkarni (Caltech)

Thesis: "Fast optical variability with the Palomar Transient Factory"

For my PhD thesis, I used data from the Palomar Transient Factory (PTF) to determine the rate of intra-night transients in preparation for the search for kilonovae. In addition, I worked on data-mining PTF to find short-period white dwarf binary stars.

MSc in Astronomy and Physics, Cum Laude

Radboud University | Sept 2011 - Aug 2013

Supervisor: P.J. Groot

Thesis: "A new eclipsing white dwarf - red dwarf binary star in the CV period gap"

BSc in Physics

Radboud University | Sept 2008 - Aug 2011

BSc thesis supervisor: G. Nelemans. Thesis project analyzing spectra of pulsating SdO star.