Katia Biazzo obtained her PhD in Physics from the University of Catania (Italy) and then worked as a post-doc fellow in several institutes, both abroad (Munich, Strasbourg) and in Italy (Catania, Florence, Naples). Since the end of 2012 she has been a Staff Researcher at INAF - Catania Astrophysical Observatory (currently assigned to the Rome Observatory). Her research interests focus mainly on the search for extrasolar planetary systems (including the characterization of planet hosts) and the study of star formation (including accreting planets and protoplanetary disks). Dr. Biazzo is a member of current and emerging ground (HARPS/HARPS-N, FLAMES, X-Shooter, GIARPS, SHARK, MOONS) and space (JWST, PLATO, ARIEL) based programs. She is the author of about 100 papers in peer-reviewed journals, acts as a reviewer for several journals, and has been co-chair of observing program committees.
Valerio Bozza is a Staff Researcher in the Physics Department of Salerno University, Italy.He has worked at CERN with Gabriele Veneziano on string cosmology and cosmological perturbations, and has become an expert on gravitational lensing by black holes, publishing several reviews on the subject. He has developed the fastest publicly available code for modeling planetary microlensing events, which is at the basis of all major existing modeling platforms. Dr. Bozza is a member of the WFIRST Microlensing Science Investigation Team and of several microlensing collaborations searching for extrasolar planets. His real-time modeling platform has become the standard reference in the community for driving follow-up observations. He is responsible for the Astronomical Observatory of Salerno University, performing microlensing observations and validation of transiting extrasolar planets. He is deeply involved in teaching and dissemination, hosting visitors and schools at the Observatory in monthly visits.
Luigi Mancini recently became a Research Staff Scientist in the Department of Physics, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Italy, having previously held the same role at the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, Heidelberg, Germany. He studied Physics and Astrophysics at the University of Salerno, Italy, and then at the University of Zurich, Switzerland. In 2017 he gained Italian National Academic Qualification as a full professor. He is a member of the executive board of the HAT-South Project and works on the detection and characterization of transiting exoplanets. In recent years he has been a collaborator of the JWST Early Release Science working group and a member of other collaborations. He is the author of more than 150 papers in peer-reviewed journals and acts as a reviewer for The Astrophysical Journal and other journals. His h-index is 32.
Alessandro Sozzetti gained his degree in Physics from Università degli Studi di Torino, Italy in 1997 and went on to obtain a PhD in Physics from the University of Pittsburgh, USA in 2005. He is a Senior Researcher (Level II) at INAF – Osservatorio Astrofisico di Torino. His research interests focus on the search for, and orbital and physical characterization of, extrasolar planetary systems and brown dwarfs and the characterization of planet hosts (chemical composition, atmospheric and physical parameters). Dr. Sozzetti has leading roles (PI, Co-PI, Chair, Co-I, WP lead) in several ground-based (HARPS-N, GIARPS, ESPRESSO) and space-borne (Gaia, TESS, PLATO, ARIEL) programs aimed at exoplanet detection and characterization. He is coordinator of the EU-funded collaborative project ETAEARTH for the characterization of terrestrial planetary systems with Kepler and HARPS-N and has been co-organizer or co-chair of six major conferences. He is the author of 125 refereed journal papers and has been a contributor to or editor of six collective volumes.
