Profile Details
Dr. Francesca Boffi is the head of the institute’s instruments division, where she leads a team of more than 160 scientific and technical staff who work to enable astronomers worldwide to the use of the instruments onboard the Hubble Space Telescope and the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), and ensures the continuation of excellence in science operations and user support for the upcoming Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope. From 2017 to 2024, she served as the instruments division deputy, where she oversaw various instrument and multi-mission teams, spearheaded strategic initiatives, and advocated for technical staff. In 2020, she led the development of the division’s multi-mission exoplanet support strategy, which helped plan how the instruments division supports the exoplanet user community.
Dr. Boffi served as the project scientist of the information technology services division between 2010 and 2017, acting as a liaison between IT and the scientific staff. During her tenure, she was part of the team that introduced the flexible data center, which allows staff to quickly scale up resources like storage on virtual servers without the limitation of physical assets. She also established a partnership with Johns Hopkins University experts, and was instrumental in bringing the first graphics processing units (GPUs) to the institute as part of a new strategic initiative for scientific computing, when the use of this technology in astronomy was in its infancy. She also chaired a cross-organizational program that was responsible for a new concept for JWST documentation.
Between 2015 and 2017, she acted as the network and security branch manager. In this role, Dr. Boffi was part of the team that upgraded the institute’s networks, while also successfully supporting the Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System (Pan-STARRS) data release. Between 2008 and 2010, she was the branch manager of the research and instrument analysis branch, which encompassed all technical staff in the instruments division. In this position, she created a robust system to support staff and create regular opportunities for professional development.
After completing her PhD in 1997, Dr. Boffi took her first job at the institute as a data analyst and was the first technical staff member of the newly formed Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) team. She had various responsibilities for ACS, including calibration projects, initial studies for an onboard compression algorithm for its data, dithering strategies, the exposure time calculator, and user support. She joined the institute as a graduate student in 1995 to work with Dr. Nino Panagia and Dr. William Sparks on her PhD research, focusing on circumstellar and interstellar environments of supernovae.
Dr. Boffi is passionate about leading teams. Her goal is to facilitate the work of colleagues across the organization while partnering with other leaders. She has also led various training activities at the institute, as a coordinator or instructor. She has been part of the STScI technical training committee since 2008 and has been its chair since 2019. As an instructor, Dr. Boffi has taught classes in project management, change management, and leadership skills. She is a member of the American Astronomical Society and the Italian Society of Applied and Industrial Mathematics. In her free time, she is an avid swimmer.
Education:
PhD in Astronomy, University of Bologna, Italy
MS in Physics and Astronomy, University of Oklahoma
Laurea in Astronomy, University of Bologna, Italy
Research Topics: Supernovae and Star Progenitors; Circumstellar and Interstellar Environments of Supernovae; Supernova Light Echoes
ORCID ID: 0000-0001-8727-4167