About
Dr. Gioia Rau is a Research Assistant Professor at Catholic University of America working at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in the Exoplanets and Stellar Astrophysics lab. Her research focuses on chromospheric activity and atmospheric properties of evolved stars using high-resolution spectroscopy from Hubble Space Telescope and ground-based interferometry from facilities like CHARA, VLTI, and ALMA.
Her investigations span red giants, supergiants, and asymptotic giant branch stars, examining mass loss mechanisms and circumstellar environments. Current projects include physical function studies of red giants with CHARA, ALMA observations of Eta Carinae, and exoplanet characterization through TESS/K2 data analysis.
She earned her Ph.D. in Astronomy from the University of Vienna, and an MS in Astronomy and Astrophysics from Sapienza University of Rome, where she completed thesis work at NASA's JPL-Caltech.
