The next RED School will be March 16-22, 2025
Discover the school program and apply
Here’s the team of teachers in charge of this year’s courses, with whom you’ll have the opportunity to interact
Dust in Space, Comets, Interplanetary Dust Particles, Space Instrument Development, Astrobiology
Alessandra Rotundi is full professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics at the Department of Science and Technology of the University of Naples “Parthenope”, Italy. She graduated in Physics at the University of Rome “La Sapienza” and obtained a PhD in Aerospace Engineering at the University of Naples “Federico II”. She coordinated the only Italian team selected by NASA dedicated to the analysis of dust samples collected in the coma of comet Wild2 and brought back to Earth by the Stardust/NASA space probe (2006-2007). Since 2010 she is responsible for the GIADA instrument that flew on board the Rosetta/ESA space probe, for the characterization of the dust coma of comet 67PC-G. In 2017 she was invited by the University of Paris-Sud as “Professeur Invités”. As part of the Comet Interceptor/ESA space mission (launch scheduled for 2029), she was the Mission National Manager (2019-2022) and she is the Deputy-PI of the DISC instrument, part of the on-board payload, which will characterize the physical properties of the dust of a dynamically new comet or interstellar object. Curiosity: in 2017 the National newspaper “Corriere della Sera” included her among the 50 women in the world who stood out for their professional results.