Sciences and Exploration Directorate

Gioia Rau

(RESEARCH SCIENTIST)

Gioia Rau's Contact Card & Information.
Email: gioia.rau@nasa.gov
Phone: 301.286.6322
Org Code: 667
Address:
NASA/GSFC
Mail Code 667
Greenbelt, MD 20771
Employer: FN - Visiting Rearcher

Brief Bio


Dr. Gioia Rau (www.gioiarau.com) is an Astrophysicist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, where she works on exoplanets and stellar astrophysics using artificial intelligence techniques, the most advanced computational models, and data from the largest telescopes on Earth and in space. Dr. Rau has a track record of numerous scientific publications, international collaborations, and leads the scientific side of multiple NASA mission concepts in development. She has recently been elected Chair of the prestigious International Astronomical Union Working Group on Red Giants and Red Supergiants.

Dr. Rau has received numerous awards for scientific merits, and she supervises interns, PhD students, and postdocs. Dr. Rau is highly committed and passionate about fostering and promoting DEIA (Diversity Equity Inclusion and Accessibility) values, especially by supporting women and other underrepresented minorities in pursuing scientific careers.

Dr. Rau received her PhD in Astrophysics with honors from the University of Vienna, Austria, in 2016, and her Masters in Physics and Astrophysics Summa cum Laude from La Sapienza University of Rome, Italy, in 2011. Previous to joining NASA's Goddard laboratory of Exoplanets and Stellar Astrophysics in 2017, Dr. Rau was awarded a Visiting Scientist position at the prestigious ESO (European Southern Observatory) in Germany. Since 2020 Dr. Rau was promoted Research Assistant Professor at CUA.

Teaching Experience


Astronomy Lecture (undergrad), CUA Oct./Nov. 2019

Positions/Employment


Research Assistant Professor

NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center & CUA - Greenbelt (MD)

January 2020 - Present


Research Scientist

NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center - Greenbelt (MD)

January 2017 - Present


Visiting Research Scientist

ESO (European Southern Observatory) - Garching (Germany)

April 2017 - June 2017


PhD student

University of Vienna, Institute for Astrophysics - Vienna (Austria)

October 2012 - October 2016


Visiting Student

CalTech/NASA JPL - Pasadena (CA)

February 2011 - April 2011


Scientific explainer

Planetarium of Rome - Rome (Italy)

2008 - 2011

Education


Ph.D., Astronomy, with Honors, University of Vienna ( Oct. 2016)

M.S., Astrophysics, Magna Cum Laude, University of Rome La Sapienza (2011)

B.S., Physics, University of Rome La Sapienza (2009)

Awards


See Dr. Rau's CV at: www.gioiarau.com

Grants


Cool stars winds and chromospheres;   P.I.

Schrödinger Fellowship - Austrian Science Fund (FWF) - Awarded: 2017-10-06


Dates:  - 

Amount 164K €


Observational study of the mass-loss mechanism in AGB stars, with the state-of-the-art high-angular resolution instruments;   P.I.

PSL Fellowship (Declined) - Paris/Meudon - Awarded: 2017-03-31


Dates:  - 

Amount 55K €

Talks, Presentations and Posters


Invited

Invited review talk at the AAS Special Session 2020

February 5, 2020

AAS Special Session - "Imaging Stars: A Century of Advances in High Angular Resolution Astronomy"
Saturday, January 4, 2020 - Wednesday, 8 January 2020 

Other

Selected Public Outreach


Scientific guide

2009 - 2009

Scientific guide of the exhibition “Expo Astri e Particelle” at Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Rome


Scientific explainer

2009 - 2009

Scientific explainer at the Festival of Science: “L’ Universo”, Rome


Public talk

2015 - 2015

Public talk “We are all Stardust” at the University of Vienna.