Science is a collective endeavor. Over the years, I have had the privilege of working with a remarkable group of students, from undergraduate thesis projects to doctoral research spanning astrometry, star formation, and black hole imaging.
Active Members
Adrien J. Feliz Cabreja
Undergraduate · UMass Boston
Adrien is majoring in physics and pursuing a research career in astrophysics. He is working on VLA observations of nearby stars known to harbor planetary systems and on the visualization of the sky-projected appearance of Gould’s Belt and the Radcliffe Wave.
Brissa Gómez Miller
PhD student · UNAM
Brissa works on EHT observations of the blazar PKS 1335−127, which recently underwent a strong gamma-ray flare. The EHT images she will obtain will be the highest-resolution observations ever made of that target. She is also interested in the correlation of EHT data and regularly spends time at the correlation center of the Max Planck Institute in Bonn, Germany.
Ricardo Hernández Garnica
PhD student · UNAM
Ricardo focuses on the analysis of orbital motions in young stellar systems using VLA and ALMA archival and proprietary observations. He has obtained the best characterization to date of the orbit of the well-known Class I object L1551 IRS5 in Taurus.
Erick Marco Peredo Hervas
Undergraduate · Universidad Mayor de San Simón
For his thesis, Erick focuses on the young stellar object V773 Tau, a quadruple system in the Taurus star-forming region. He is combining astrometric and spectroscopic observations to model the orbital motions and determine the masses of the individual stars in the system.
Valeria Quintero Ortega
PhD student · UNAM
Valeria’s PhD focuses on the physics of radio emission in active stars. She uses previously obtained VLA and VLBA observations, as well as systematic high-resolution observations from the unbiased VLBA StarGate survey, to place constraints on the emission mechanisms and their relation with processes seen at other wavelengths.
Eduardo Quiroz Arnez
Masters student · UNAM
While also working on his classes, Eduardo is leading a research program aimed at studying the jet structure of 3C 120 using VLA observations. This work is particularly focused on the magnetic structure derived from polarimetric observations. He is also participating in the preparation of the VLBA observations of the StarGate survey.
Adriana Vasquez Barrios
Masters student · UNAM
Adriana is starting her Masters studies at UNAM. Her graduate research will focus on the astrometric analysis of the StarGate survey, which was designed to complement and test the results of the Gaia astrometric space mission by providing VLBI observations of similar astrometric quality.
José Armando Yucra
Masters student · UNAM
Building upon his undergraduate work, José Armando studies the relationship between radio and X-ray emission in nearby radio-bright stars. Specifically, he is revisiting an empirical correlation initially identified by Güdel and Benz in the 1990s using much larger samples and modern X-ray observations.
Past Members
Aurora de los Ángeles ‘Gely’ Durán
PhD 2026 · UNAM
MSc 2020 · UNAM
BSc 2017 · UdG
Gely worked on the overall structure of the L1551 IRS5 protostars from ALMA observations obtained as part of the large ALMA program FAUST. She is particularly interested in the effect of the outflow activity from the central binary on the structure of the inner envelope.
Ernesto García Valencia
PhD 2025 · University of Sonora
Ernesto worked on the radio properties of stars in the Chamaeleon star-forming region. He obtained and analyzed both conventional interferometry observations with ATCA and long-baseline data with the LBA. His work represents the most complete radio study of the Chamaeleon region to date. Ernesto currently works as an orbital dynamics analyst in the aerospace industry.
Jazmín Ordoñez Toro
PhD 2025 · UNAM
Jazmín’s research focused on the analysis of young, compact, multiple stellar systems using multi-epoch VLBA observations. Her thesis was recognized by an honorable mention in the 2025 IAU PhD Prize. She is currently a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Nariño, Colombia, under the “Orquídeas” program (Women in Artificial Intelligence, Sciences and Quantum Technologies 2025).
Dante Peñaloza
MSc 2025 · UNAM
For his Masters thesis, Dante studied the broadening mechanisms of hydrogen recombination lines in the high-mass young star MWC 349A. Using observations obtained with the 100-m radio telescope in Germany, he demonstrated that, for quantum numbers between 50 and 100, the linewidths increase monotonically as expected from pressure broadening.
Karla Noemí Moo Herrera
Intern 2024–25 · Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán
During a two-semester internship, Karla worked on a reanalysis of a large body of astrometric observations of young stars in the Orion region to obtain their distances through an MCMC fitting of their annual parallax.
Antonio Hernández
PhD 2019 · UNAM & Université Paul Sabatier
Antonio’s research focused on the physical and chemical properties of the protostar IRAS 16293−2422. After a postdoc at the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy in Bonn, he is now a research professor at the Technological Institute of Monterrey, Mexico.
Juana Leticia Rivera
PhD 2017 · UNAM
Juana Leticia’s research focused on the origin of Gould’s Belt based on accurate VLBI proper-motion measurements. She is now a physics instructor at the Universidad del Valle de México and the National University of Mexico.
Gisela Ortiz León
PhD 2017 · UNAM
Gisela’s research focused entirely on VLBI applications, both for astrometry as part of the GOBELINS project and for black hole imaging; she published the first science-grade VLBI observations collected with the Large Millimeter Telescope Alfonso Serrano. Her thesis was recognized by the 2017 IAU PhD Prize. After a Humboldt Fellowship at the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy in Bonn, she is now a research professor at INAOE in Puebla, Mexico.
Gerardo Pech Castillo
PhD 2016 · UNAM
BSc 2008 · UAY
Gerardo’s PhD research focused on wide-area VLA mapping of the Perseus star-forming region to identify targets for the GOBELINS survey. After graduating, he held leadership positions in several planetariums and is currently a member of the Science and Technology Council of the state of Quintana Roo, Mexico.
Sergio Dzib Quijano
PhD 2013 · UNAM
Sergio’s research focused on early astrometric observations of young stellar systems as well as VLA wide-area mapping of nearby star-forming regions for the GOBELINS survey. After postdocs at the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy and IRAM, he is now a long-term researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy in Bonn.
Erandy González
BSc 2009 · Universidad Tecnológica de la Mixteca
For her bachelor thesis in applied mathematics, Erandy developed a Bayesian code to fit VLBI astrometric observations.
Rosa Martha Torres López
PhD 2009 · UNAM
Rosy’s research focused on early astrometric VLBI observations of young stellar systems — work that initiated much of the astrometric research we carried out in subsequent years. After a postdoc at Bonn University, she is now a professor at the Institute of Astronomy and Meteorology of the University of Guadalajara.
Mónica Rodríguez
PhD 2008 · UNAM
Mónica’s research, mostly carried out at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, focused on the large-scale interstellar medium in galaxies. After graduating, she was a postdoctoral researcher in Granada, Spain, and Paris, France.
Guillermo Manjarrez Esquivel
MSc 2008 · UNAM
Guillermo analyzed VLA observations of the dense core L1517B and combined these interferometric data with single-dish observations to recover the full dense-material distribution. He continued with a PhD at the Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia in Granada, Spain.
Virgilio Vázquez
BSc 2006 · Universidad Tecnológica de la Mixteca
For his bachelor thesis, Virgilio developed a code to fit VLBI astrometric observations. He continued with a Masters and PhD in applied mathematics at CIMAT, Guanajuato, and is now a professor of applied mathematics at the Universidad Tecnológica de la Mixteca.
Susana Pacheco
BSc 2006 · Benemérita Universidad de Puebla
For her bachelor thesis, Susana worked on the circumstellar disk of the young stellar source HH24MMS. She continued with a PhD in Grenoble, France, and then moved to data science in the private sector.
Brenda Carolina Arias Martín
BSc 2003 · University of Guadalajara
For her bachelor thesis, Brenda worked on using sulfur-bearing molecules as potential chemical clocks in protostellar outflows. She went on to obtain a Masters in education and communication technologies and is now head of public outreach at the Institute of Astronomy of UNAM in Mexico City.