Marie Korsaga

Collaborators

Background

I am originally  from Burkina Faso where I carried my undergraduate studies at the Université Joseph Ki-Zerbo and obtained a Master’s degree in Physics in 2012. My MSc research was about the photometric study of brown dwarfs in the optical. After my Master, I worked at the Laboratoire d’Astrophysique de Marseille (LAM) in France as an intern where I studied the kinematics of galaxies using Fabry-Perot observations, before pursuing a PhD in LAM jointly with the University of Cape Town in South Africa. My PhD research focused on investigating the distribution of baryonic and dark matter in nearby  galaxies. Using state-of-the-art multi-wavelength spectral and photometric data – including infrared, optical and HI observations, we discovered that the relations between Dark Matter halo parameters and galaxy luminosities are not standard as previously thought, but are function of the galaxy morphological type.

After completing my PhD in 2019, I joined the IAU Office of Astronomy for Development (OAD) for a fellowship in 2020, during which I researched the contribution of the science community – and in particular that of the astronomy community – in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. I have published different blog articles on the subject, which are featured on the IAU-OAD’s official website.

I joined IAA-CSIC in October 2020 for a short postdoctoral position with Lourdes Verdes-Montenegro, to investigate the properties of pseudobulges and the impact of galaxy environment on the formation and evolution of these pseudobulges.


Besides my academic activities, I am involved in many projects advocating for the promotion of women in STEM studies, with the aim of contributing towards a more equal gender representation in science, particularly in developing countries.