Felipe Alarcón Peña

I am a Ph.D. in Astronomy. I am mostly interested in the discovery of protoplanets and the chemistry of planet formation.

⬇ CV in PDF

Personal Data

  • Given Names: Felipe Mauricio
  • Last Names: Alarcón Peña
  • Languages: Spanish(native), English(C2), Italian(B2), French(A2)

Education and Jobs

  • Postdoctoral Fellow in UNVEIL ERC Group – Università degli Studi di Milano, Since October 2024

  • B.Sc in Astronomy – Universidad de Chile, March 2014 - December 2016
  • M.Sc in Astronomy – Universidad de Chile, March 2017 - January 2019
  • Ph.D in Astronomy – University of Michigan, September 2018 - August 2024

Achievements, Awards and Grants

  • NRAO Student Observing Support Program ($\sim$$20k), 2023
  • Rackham International Student Fellowship, University of Michigan, 2019.
  • Rackham Conference Travel Grant, University of Michigan, 2019, 2022, 2023.
  • Fulbright Scholar 2018-2022
  • National Master Fellowship for graduate studies 2018. CONICYT (now ANID), Chile. Ranked 25th out of 1939 applicants nation-wide for MSc full funding (top 1.3\%).
  • Short research internships for graduate students, 2017-2018 Call (“Estadías Cortas de investigación para alumnos de postgrado Convocatoria 2017-2018”) at CSUN and NASA, JPL.
  • “Outstanding Student, Universidad de Chile (Best 10\% of the cohort)” 2013 to 2016.
  • Ranked first in the Astronomy Graduation cohort.
  • Universidad de Chile Scholar 2013-2016 (BSc full funding)
  • Grant for Astronomy Outreach in Rural Communities in Chile, Vicerrectoria de Asuntos Academicos, Universidad de Chile, 2017-2018.

Contributions

Talks:

  • Contributed Plenary Talk: “A promising unique CPD candidate in the Eta Cha Association”, Discs on the Exe, Exeter, UK, July 2026
  • Contributed Talk: “A promising unique CPD candidate in the Eta Cha Association”, UKI Accretions Disks Meeting 2026, Cambridge, UK, July 2026
  • Contributed Talk: “A promising CPD candidate in a member of the evolved Eta Cha stellar Association”, XX SOCHIAS Annual Meeting, October 2025
  • Contributed Talk: “Correlation in the emission of carbon-bearing species with dynamical state of protoplanetary disks”, ESO - Towards new frontiers: The astrochemical journey from young stellar nurseries to exoplanets , March 2025
  • Contributed Talk: “A possible companion candidate in one of the Eta Cha members”, Gas Accretion in Planet Formation(GAP), March 2025
  • Contributed Talk: “How can we strategize to detect more protoplanets?”, ERC workshop on Disk \& Planet formation, June 2024 &diamond Invited Talk: “Thermochemical evolution in 3D flows of protoplanetary disks”, University of Wisconsin-Madison, March 2024 &diamond Invited Talk: “Thermochemical evolution in 3D flows of protoplanetary disks”, CCA Star and Planet formation group, Flatiron Institute, Nov 2023 &diamond Invited Talk: “The evolution in protoplanetary disks: From thermal changes in outbursting sources to the chemistry of planet-forming regions”, Astrochemistry Seminar, Leiden Observatory, Jan 2023 &diamond Invited Talk: “Viscous heating as the dominant heat source inside the snowline of V883 Ori”, Planet Formation Journal Club, Universidad Adolfo Ibañez, Jan 2023
  • Contributed Talk: “Atomic Carbon as a tracer of hidden flows and a kinematic anomaly in the HD 163296 disk”, From Clouds to Planets II: The Astrochemical Link, October 2022 &diamond Invited Talk: “Chemical Evolution in planet-forming regions of protoplanetary disks”, Exoplanet Journal Club, University of Chicago, October 2022
  • Contributed Talk: “Molecules with ALMA at Planet-forming Scales (MAPS) VIII: Gap Chemistry in AS 209 - Gas Depletion or Chemical Processing?”, Astrochemical Frontiers 2, July 2021
  • Contributed Talk: “Chemical gap theory applied to AS 209: Revealing the Chemistry of Planet Formation”. Five years after HL Tau: a new era in planet formation, December 2020 &diamond Invited Talk: “Chemical evolution in protoplanetary disks with dust substructure”, Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, Star-Planet Formation Group, September 2020
  • Contributed Talk: “Chemical evolution in protoplanetary disks with dust substructure”, Astrochemical Frontiers: Quarantine Edition, July 2020

Posters:

  • “Radiative Transfer Effects of accreting planets in planet-feeding gas”, 10 years of ALMA, December 2023
  • “Radiative Transfer Effects of accreting planets in planet-feeding gas”, 2023 Kavli-IAU Astrochemistry Symposium. Astrochemistry VIII - From the First Galaxies to the Formation of Habitable Worlds, July 2023
  • “Radiative Transfer Effects of accreting planets in planet-feeding gas”,Gordon Research Conference, June 2023
  • “Chemical evolution in protoplanetary disk with dust substructures”,Gordon Research Conference , June 2019
  • “Measuring Physical Conditions and Turbulent Velocity in Protoplanetary Disks”, Diversis mundi: The Solar System in an Exoplanetary context march 2018

Code Proficiency

  • Python, Julia, C++, R, Matlab
  • Fargo3D, RADMC-3D, rac-2d, Meudon

Teaching & Advising Experience

  • Advising Msc Student Mr. Christian Manuzi; 2026-
  • Advising Undergrad Student Mr. Eshan Raul; Summer-Winter 2022, Summer-Winter 2023
  • Graduate Student Instructor(GSI) Astronomy 101, University of Michigan, Winter 2019 - Fall 2019.
  • Teaching Assistant PLanetary Sciences, Universidad de Chile, Fall 2018.
  • Teaching Assistant Introduction to Cosmology, Universidad de Chile, Fall 2017 - Spring 2017.
  • Teaching Assistant Introduction to Algebra, Universidad de Chile, Fall 2016.
  • Teaching Assistant Electromagnetism, Universidad de Chile, Fall 2016.
  • Teaching Assistant Newtonian Systems, Universidad de Chile, Spring 2015 - Spring 2016.
  • Teaching Assistant Introduction to the Newtonian Physics, Universidad de Chile, Fall 2015.

Service and Others

  • Member of University of Michigan 2024 PhD Admissions Committee, Astronomy Department.
  • Scientific referee for ApJ, ApJL, MNRAS, A&A and New Astronomy.
  • Member of Local Organizing Committee(LOC) 2023 Kavli-IAU Astrochemistry Symposium. Astrochemistry VIII - From the First Galaxies to the Formation of Habitable Worlds.
  • Star and Planet Formation Group Organizer, University of Michigan, Fall 2021 - Winter 2021
  • Grad Student Lunch with Colloquium Speaker Organizer, University of Michigan, Fall 2021 - Winter 2021

Observing Proposals

  • PI of JWST Program 11087 (3.1 h), Cycle 5
  • PI of ALMA Proposal 2024.1.01515 (3.8 h), ranked C, Cycle 11
  • PI of ALMA Proposal 2023.1.00901.S. (~16 h , ranked B, Cycle 10
  • PI of Magellan/Clay telescope Proposal 2024A, half-night

  • PI of ALMA Proposal 2022.1.01308.S., ranked C, Cycle 9

  • Co-I of JWST Program 7340 (8.9 h), Cycle 4
  • Co-I of ALMA Proprosal 2024.1.00964, ranked B, Cycle 11
  • Co-I of ALMA Proprosal 2024.1.00787, ranked B, Cycle 11
  • Co-I of JWST Program 5816 (11.29 h), Cycle 3
  • Co-I of JWST Program 5261 (7.67 h), Cycle 3
  • Co-I of ALMA Proposal 2023.1.00787.S, ranked C, Cycle 9
  • Co-I of ALMA Proposal 2022.1.01291.S., ranked C
  • Co-I of ALMA Proposal 2022.1.01291.S., ranked C
  • Co-I of ALMA Proposal 2022.1.00247.S., ranked A
  • Co-I of ALMA Proposal 2021.1.00899.S., ranked B
  • Co-I of ALMA Proposal 2018.1.01309.S., ranked A
  • Co-I of of Magellan/Clay telescope Proposal 2024A, 1 night