Astrophysicist
Trottier Institute for Research on Exoplanets (iREx) · Université de Montréal
I am an astrophysicist at Université de Montréal, member of the Trottier Institute for Research on Exoplanets (iREx). My research focuses on brown dwarfs, exoplanets, and astronomical instrumentation.
I work on the detection and characterization of exoplanets and brown dwarfs in the solar
neighborhood. I am the scientific lead for the NIRPS
infrared spectrograph (installed at ESO's 3.6m telescope in Chile) and
SPIRou (at the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope).
I have developed innovative high-precision velocimetry techniques that enable the detection
of Earth-mass planets around low-mass stars. More recently, I developed a method to measure
stellar temperature variations with unprecedented precision.
I am also involved in supporting the analysis algorithms for the
NIRISS instrument aboard the James Webb
Space Telescope, and in future algorithms for ANDES
on the ELT.
Recent work includes:
All this work is possible thanks to the iREx team. Visit the
institute page and subscribe to our
newsletter.
Computes the cross-correlation function (CCF) of SPIRou/NIRPS s1d spectra by YJHK band, with Gaussian fitting for radial velocity, width and contrast. Installs via pip, with sample data included.
→AstronomyTool to determine exoplanet properties from radial velocity monitoring parameters and predict transits.
→AstronomyGenerates synthetic modal-noise spectra for fibre-fed spectrographs using a Gaussian Process model with wavelength-dependent amplitude.
→AstronomyFlux calculator for the PESTO instrument (OMM, 1.6 m mirror): Gaia/SIMBAD lookup, flux and electrons-per-pixel table, and airmass curve for any night of the year.
→AstronomyInteractive app to explore and visualize dynamic astronomy-related scenarios.
→AstronomyTool that computes the stability of a three-body system against Kozai-Lidov (KL) oscillations.
→AstronomyTool to determine star visibility and plan observations of telluric calibration stars.
→AstronomyRetrieves physical and kinematic properties of main-sequence stars from their identifier, querying Gaia DR3, 2MASS, and AllWISE catalogs.
→AstronomyExposure time calculator to estimate observing performance and plan data acquisition.
→AstronomyPhysically motivated 2D detector image simulator for the VROOMM echelle spectrograph: night planning GUI, Zemax PSF/trace propagation, and perceptual-color spectrum previews.
→BirdsCompilation of my bird pictures.
→FinanceInteractive comparator for ~700 Canadian ETFs (TSX). Sort and filter by growth, volatility, sector allocation, and a quality score relative to the S&P 500.
→FinanceBrowser-based financial planning tool that projects retirement portfolio growth and compares scenarios with and without management fees.
→LaTeXAutomatically generates a publication-ready LaTeX author list from a shared Google Sheet. Supports Astronomical Journal (AJ), Astronomy & Astrophysics (A&A), and SPIE Proceedings styles.
→LaTeXGenerates A&A-style tracked-changes PDFs between two LaTeX manuscripts. New text in blue, removed text in orange with strikethrough. Installs via pip, runs from anywhere.
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Outside of work, I am a passionate amateur birder. Since 1989, I have documented
over 47,000 bird observations around the world, along with thousands of photographs.
My photo gallery presents a selection of my best images, organized by species,
taxonomic family, and trip.
