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I am a survey astronomer who loves working on the interfaces of astrophysics, data science, instrumentation and society.

My data science research interest is distilling rare objects from oceans of astronomical data. My astrophysical research interest is astrophysical influences on the climate of Earth (and earth-like exoplanets). I pursue these two research topics together with colleagues.

My own team’s research currently focuses on distilling asteroids and comets from large imaging surveys to deepen our understanding on their influence on Earth’s climate (and help keeping Earth’s biosphere safe at the same time).

As manager of the OmegaCEN Astronomical Science Data Center at the University of Groningen, I am leading several teams that develop information systems for the next generation of ESO’s and ESA’s instrumentation.