Academic Journey

I completed my High-school studies in Romania, at “Carol I” National College, Craiova, Romania’s second oldest high school. I graduated in 2012, achieving an overall 100% average grade, and full marks in my mathematics and physics Romanian Baccalaureate exams.

In 2016, I started a 4-year integrated Masters degree in Physics and Astronomy at Durham University in the UK. My interest in Astrophysics was For my masters research project, I worked with Prof Mark Swinbank on analysing distant galaxies, early on in their formation stages, and measuring their dark matter fractions to learn about their evolution history across cosmic time. My results provided evidence against earlier results claiming lower dark matter fractions at early stages of galactic evolution. I graduated in 2020 with a First Class (Hons.) distinction, having also received the Andy Brinkman Prize from the Physics Department.

In 2021, I began my PhD in Astrophysics at the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research, the University of Western Australia (ICRAR-UWA), working with Prof Luca Cortese, Dr Amelia Fraser-McKelvie and Dr Brent Groves. My research compared how stars and gas rotate in galaxies to infer information about galactic evolutionary processes. I provided a comprehensive description of why galaxies have stars and gas rotating in different planes, and identified a peculiar class of galaxies which challenge our understanding of the gas cycle in galaxies. I also provided benchmark computations of fundamental galaxy scaling relations and statistical functions in the nearby Universe, of legacy value. I published three papers as lead author, two of which one of which is labelled “extremely highly cited”, while the other two are “highly cited”. For the excellence of this research, I was awarded the ICRAR-UWA 2024 Ken and Julie Michael Prize.

I am currently a postdoctoral researcher in Astrocombs at Swinburne University of Technology, working with Prof. Michael Murphy on developing novel calibration techniques for astronomical spectrographs, to enable tests of fundamental physics with the world’s largest telescopes. My research aims to harness the full power of laser-frequency combs, the world’s most accurate astronomical spectral calibrators (we call this subcategory “astrocombs”). Preliminary results modelling the astrocomb signal on the ESPRESSO spectrograph show great promise for increasing current calibration accuracy by one order of magnitude.

Personal interests

I am a powerlifter, competing nationally within Australia. I won a bronze medal in the Australian Powerlifting 2026 Southern Division, and I am ranked 4th nationally for bench press in my weight category (I am currently qualified for the 2026 Oceania Championship).

I am currently training at Hawthorn Aquatic and Leisure centre. I am focusing on improving my bench with the long-term goal of breaking the national record in my weight category. I am also more focused on the other two lifts – squat and deadlift.

The characteristics needed to perform at the highest level, beyond physical strength, include concentration, composure, and an attention to detail. Developing these characteristics to compete at the highest level have greatly helped my professional life.

I also have an interest in ancient history, especially Roman and Dacian history. Dacians are Indo-European people, the ancient inhabitants of present-day Romania and the northern branch of the Thracian. The Dacians and Romans are regarded as the ancestors of the modern Romanian nation.

My interest in history plays into my passion for numismatics (the collection and study of currency). I am especially interested in the study of coins. While ancient Dacian coins are incredibly rare, Roman coins are much more widely available, especially across the European continent.

I analyse unidentified roman coins to determine their place of origin and historic period. These coins reveal a wealth of historic information about their time period. In the case of several roman emperors and empresses, the little information we have about their life and reign comes from messages and images encoded on the coins they minted.

I also have an artistic side, with a deep passion for oil painting. I have graduated from the courses of the popular school of arts and crafts in Craiova, Romania. I have had my paintings featured at several exhibition.

I particularly enjoy hyperrealism, although my work has been influenced by impressionism as well. Most of my works are either landscapes or still-life paintings. I am currently working on a series featuring Australian wildlife.

Below is a gallery of some of my most recent paintings.