About Me

Hi there! My name is Leo Werneck, and I am a computational astrophysicist and scientific software developer.

My day-to-day consists of designing, developing, debugging, and optimizing high-performance software to solve complex partial differential equations. My research leverages these techniques in order to model extreme astrophysical environments, such as neutron stars and black holes, which require advanced algorithms and optimization techniques to push the boundaries of scientific understanding.

Passionate about combining the elegance of fundamental physics with the intricacy of computational methods, I tackle challenges where basic principles lead to innovative solutions. My work bridges cutting-edge numerical methods with practical high-performance computing, innovating on both theoretical and applied physics.

I am eager to explore opportunities where I can apply my skills to new challenges, whether in academia or industry, particularly in roles involving algorithm development, large-scale simulations, and collaborative problem-solving.

Academic Trajectory

I am currently a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Idaho, where I am conducting research under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Zachariah B. Etienne. I am also a member of the TCAN collaboration on Binary Neutron Stars. I was a postdoc at West Virginia University (WVU) from Oct. 2020 to Oct. 2021, where I worked on the same project I am currently working on.

I have obtained my Ph.D. in Physics from the Institute of Physics of the University of São Paulo (USP), under supervision of Prof. Dr. Elcio Abdalla (see the BINGO telescope website), where we have mostly worked with critical phenomena in the gravitational collapse of massless scalar fields. During my Ph.D. I have visited Zach Etienne at WVU and we have worked on extending the equation of state support of IllinoisGRMHD (IGM), a compact, user-friendly, and robust GRMHD code. IGM is a rewrite of the original GRMHD code of the Illinois Relativity Group, of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Previously, I obtained a M.Sc. in Physics, under supervision of Prof. Dr. Victor O. Rivelles, and a Teaching Degree in Physics, where my undergraduate research was supervised by Prof. Dr. Artour G. Elfimov, both from USP.