Blessing Musiimenta
I am currently a Marie Curie Fellow and PhD Student since October 2020 at the Department of physics and Astrophysics at the University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy. During my PhD, I have been working on developing novel methods to select supermassive black holes (SMBH) with strong winds and also employing machine learning techniques. I use spectra fitting techniques from observational data to trace the presence of SMBH outflows and study their effect on the host galaxies. Besides scientific research, I am also involved in doing outreach activities in Ugandan schools providing career guidance to high school students (especially girls) and inspiring them into STEM through astronomy.
RESEARCH POSITIONS
October 2022 to date: Marie Curie Fellow and Ph.D Student Department of physics and astrophysics, University of Bologna,Bologna, Italy.
Academic degrees
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2017—2019: Master's of science in physicsMbarara University of Science and Technology,Mbarara, Uganda.Master's thesis “IDENTIFICATION OF GAMMA-RAY BLAZARS USING FERMI-LAT"
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2013—2016: Bachelor of science with education (physics/mathematics), Mbarara University of Science and Technology,Mbarara, UgandaBachelor's thesis “Determination of the effect of the ST. Patrick's geomagnetic storm over Mbarara region"
RESEARCH VISITS
June 2023: Comparison of active galactic nuclei outflow properties from observations with COLIBRE simulations,
Leiden University,
Netherlands.
November 2022: Machine learning methods to select active galactic nuclei with strong winds,
Max Planck Institute for extraterrestrial physics,
Garching, Germany.
October 2022: MUSE data reduction, Leibniz-Institut für Astrophysik Potsdam
Potsdam, Germany.
February 2022: Study of Active galactic nuclei winds at high redshift using IFU data from KMOS and SINFONI data,
Durham University,Durham, UK.
PI-SHIP AND COI-SHIP OF OBSERVATIONAL PROPOSALS ON A COMPETITIVE BASIS
PI-ship of a proposal for 20hrs of X-Shooter observations of 10 luminous and obscured QSOs at z=1-1.4 ,Determination of redshift and physical properties of luminous and obscured red quasars selected from eROSITA.
COI-ship/Delegated PI of a proposal for 10hrs of MUSE + X-Shooter observations of an obscured QSO at z=0.6 (PI: Prof. Marcella Brusa).MUSE and X-Shooter view of the first archetypal Quasar in the feedback phase discovered by eROSITA
TEACHING
2018—2020: Lecturer in physics
Uganda Christian Univerity (UCU),
Kabale branch
Kabale- Uganda.
2016—2020: Education officer
Mbarara secondary school appointed by the Ugandan ministry of education and sports
Mbarara – Uganda.
2017—2018: Volunteer teaching assistant
Mbarara University of Science and technology
Mbarara- Uganda.
SCHOOLS AND SHORT-TERM TRAINING COURSES
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June 2022, virtual - Training with Nature Astronomy - Scientific writing and peer review.
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4-8 April 2022 Southampton, UK - Intermediate python programming and package building for python by Mango solutions, delivery skills and storytelling by Duncan Yellowlees, optimisation in the fashion industry by Prewarp.
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14-16 July 2021, Virtual - Artificial intelligence, machine learning and careers in Data Science school (Bid4BEST-BASF).07 - 11 June 2021, Virtual - School on Numerical Galaxy Formation (BiD4BEST-LMU)
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19 April 2021, virtual - Training with Nature Astronomy - how to read and write scientific papers for publication (BiD4BEST)
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March 2021, virtual - Media Relations and Communication training (BiD4BEST-SISSA)
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13 -21 January 2021, Virtual - School of Astro-Statistics (BiD4BEST)
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02 - 11 February 2022, remote and in person, Bologna, Italy - Python, we have a problem!(or more than one…)
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19 - 23 April 2021, Virtual - Gamma Ray Bursts: from observations to physical properties.
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5-14 May 2021, Bologna,Italy and virtual- Writing, talking and presenting Science.
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30 November - 01 December 2020, Virtual - The interstellar medium.
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August 2018, Long slit spectroscopy school (Kigali, Rwanda).
INDUSTRIAL TRAINING
June - August 2022: I worked with prewarp company on developing and improving different models to obtain better revenue forecasts for the Camper fashion industry. During this time, I contributed to the company by wring python programming scripts and developing models such as SARIMAX models and NeuralProphet model where I was responsible for developing the models based on monthly data
LANGUAGES
Runyakitara: Native
English: Official (medium of instruction in Uganda), Fluent in English
In the process of learning Italian:)