Highlights of 2025

Here, we gather the notable moments and milestones that shaped the past year at the IEA, from scientific achievements to institutional growth.

Scientific impact

In the Press

✨ A research project led by Anuroop Dasgupta, PhD student at the IEA and ESO, observed a young planet still forming within the spiral arms of its birth disk, using the Very Large Telescope (VLT). A first-time discovery, this study marks a significant milestone in direct studies of planet formation. This has been published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters.

✨ IEA UDP researchers, as part of the ODISEA project, along with the YEMS Millennium Nucleus and other teams across the world, helped demonstrate that the intricate rings and gaps observed in protoplanetary disks are signatures of planets forming within them, marking the end of a decade-long debate, and reinforcing the IEA’s leading position in planet-formation research. It has been published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters.

Observations

✨ This year, as part of ALMA Cycle 12, five researchers at the IEA have been awarded observing time as PIs.

Dr. Bin Yang: Primitive Dust and Activity in Comet C/2024 E1 with ALMA.
Dr. Lucas Cieza: An ALMA and JWST-MIRI line survey of FUor objects: the chemistry revealed by stellar outbursts.
Dr. Manuel Aravena: (1) PHOENIX Large ALMA Program, (2) HIDING in the HUDF.
Dr. Kseniia Telikova: (1) Linking gas in absorption and emission at the smallest impact parameters: Extremely Strong DLAs at high redshift, (2) Dynamics and molecular content of interacting quasar-galaxy systems.
Dr. Chiara Mazzucchelli: Dust properties of quasars with powerful radio-jets in the 1st Gyr of the Universe.

Conferences and Outreach

✨ In October, at the XX Annual Meeting of the Sociedad Chilena de Astronomía (SOCHIAS) in Puerto Montt, the IEA shone across research, leadership, and outreach.

✨ Some notable achievements during the meeting include the following:

Professor Leopoldo Infante was honored with the Premio Rodolfo Barbá 2025 for his career contributions to Chilean astronomy.
Estudiante de Doctorado Tatevik Mkrtchyan received an Excellent Student Talk mention for her presentation on AGN and quasars.
The IEA also showcased leadership roles with Chiara Mazzucchelli as the SOCHIAS president and Yasna Ordeñes as co-chair.

✨ The institute stood out especially demonstrating the strongest female representation across scientific talks. Beyond research, the team engaged in regional outreach through community fairs and inclusive astronomy activities with local schools and groups in Los Lagos.

✨ We also participated in the Día del Asteroide in June 2025, at Puente Alto, with tactile setups to engage young audiences as part of an outreach event.

Awards and Recognition

✨ Dr. Lorena Hernández was awarded the L’Oréal For Women in Science Award, granted by L’Oreal Chile and UNESCO, in collaboration with La Agencia Nacional de Investigación y Desarrollo (ANID), in the Postdoctoral category. The goal of the award is to recognize female talent in the national scientific landscape, amplifying the visibility of each of the winners, highlighting their careers and research, and also providing funding so they can continue to advance their careers.

✨ Dr. Alice Zurlo was awarded the Adelina Gutiérrez Scientific Excellence Award 2025, by the Chilean Academy of Sciences. The award distinguishes young women researchers with an outstanding scientific career and a high impact on the development of knowledge in Chile.

Defenses and Futures

✨ Three doctoral candidates, Manuel Solimano, Sara Vitali, y Georgios Dimopoulos, successfully defended their PhD theses in 2025, marking yet another major milestone for the IEA’s PhD program.

✨ The newly minted PhD graduates moved on to international institutions to advance their careers:

Dr. Manuel Solimano as a postdoctoral researcher at Centro de Astrobiología (CAB), Spain.
Dr. Sara Vitali as a postdoctoral researcher at Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, Spain.
Dr. Georgios Dimopoulos as a postdoctoral researcher at NASA Goddard, USA.

Growth of the institute

✨ In 2025, the IEA welcomed two new members to the faculty: Dr. Lorena Hernández (Assistant Professor) and Dr. Enrique Paillas (Assistant Professor), continuing to maintain gender balance within the academic staff.

✨ Five new graduate students joined the IEA’s PhD program, who will be starting in March/September 2026.

✨ The IEA achieved full accreditation for ten years, recognizing the quality and stability of our PhD program and research standards.