Astrophysicist, Data Scientist, Machine Learning Developer
Île-de-France, France
Contact MeDownload CVHi! I am David Paipa-León: Colombian astrophysicist, data scientist, and lifelong programmer.
I completed my PhD in Astronomy and Astrophysics at the Observatoire de Paris (PSL) in December 2025, diagnosing energetic electrons in solar flares through X-ray and radio observations from ESA/NASA's Solar Orbiter mission — six peer-reviewed publications followed, along with a short postdoctoral contract with CNRS. Alongside this research, I bring 6+ years of experience applying scientific computing, machine learning, and data engineering across academic and industry settings. I'm especially interested in the intersection of physics, AI, and creative/visual programming — an interest I explore through Penrose Trip, my ongoing generative-art project.
- Science & Data: numpy, pandas, collections, os, string, scipy, astropy, sunpy
- Plots: matplotplib, seaborn, Dash
- Machine Learning (ML): scikit-klearn, Tensorflow , Keras, OpenCV, Word2Vec
- Text scrapping and Language Processing: string, BeautifulSoup, spacy, nltk
- UI: pygame, tkinter, pyautogui, qtpy
- Plots: matplotplib, seaborn
- Backend: node, Angular , Express
- Data Base: mogoDB
- Machine Learning: ml5, TensorflowJS
- Creative: processing, p5, matter
- Plots: D3
- Development: Postman, Jupyter, Microsoft/Libre Office
- Used languages: SQL, SAS, Addactis
- Machine Learning: Runway, Teachable Machine
- Technologies: Git, Makefile, R, Java, Jekyll, LaTex
- Astronomy: IRAF
January 2026 - February 2026
Two-month bridging contract consolidating the research software developed during the PhD and completing outstanding publication work, in continuation of the Solar Orbiter STIX/RPW research program.
Paris, France
April 2019 - August 2020
Built machine learning tools for business clients — from fraud/biometrics detection to financial forecasting.
Read more ▾Designed and deployed machine learning and data science solutions for enterprise clients, leading projects in predictive analytics, biometrics, natural language processing, and financial forecasting with a focus on model interpretability and business impact.
Bogotá, Colombia / São Paulo, Brazil
August 2016 - November 2018
Assisted undergraduate teaching in electronics, object-oriented programming, mathematics, and physics through laboratory instruction, grading, tutoring, and student mentoring across multiple engineering and science courses.
Bogotá, Colombia
February 2022 - July 2022
Analyzed X-ray and radio data from the Solar Orbiter spacecraft to study solar flares — the start of my PhD research line.
Read more ▾Performed multi-wavelength analysis of solar flare events using the Solar Orbiter mission, combining data from the STIX X-ray telescope and RPW radio and plasma wave instruments. Investigated particle acceleration, magnetic reconnection, and electron propagation through X-ray spectroscopy, imaging, and radio diagnostics. Supervisors: Dr. Nicole Vilmer and Dr. Milan Maksimovic.
Paris, France
October 2021 - December 2021
Built a deep-learning tool to simplify complex chemical simulations of interstellar gas clouds.
Read more ▾Developed a deep learning autoencoder to compress and reconstruct large astrochemical networks generated with CHIMES, enabling efficient representation of a 135-species chemical network for interstellar medium simulations. Supervisor: Dr. Franck LePetit.
Paris, France
April 2021 - June 2021
Used machine learning to help identify high-energy particles from space for the LHAASO experiment.
Read more ▾Developed machine learning models to classify high-energy particle showers for the LHAASO experiment using simulated data generated with CORSIKA. Improved gamma-ray event identification for astrophysical observations. Supervisor: Dr. Andrii Neronov.
Paris, France
Oct 2022 - Dec 2025
Observatoire de Paris - LIRA - ED127
Energetic particles in solar flares: diagnostics with X-ray and radio observations from Solar Orbiter
Solar flares fling huge numbers of electrons out at very high speed. My thesis traced where those electrons come from and how they escape into space, using X-ray and radio data from ESA's Solar Orbiter spacecraft.
Read more (for a technical audience) ▾Solar flares accelerate large populations of electrons that produce hard X-ray (HXR) emission in the solar atmosphere and type III radio bursts when escaping into interplanetary space. This thesis investigates the relationship between HXR flares and interplanetary type III bursts using simultaneous observations from the STIX and RPW instruments aboard Solar Orbiter. The results show that electron escape is commonly preceded by changes in HXR source morphology, indicating multiple magnetic reconnection episodes, and that stronger type III bursts are associated with higher non-thermal electron energies and harder HXR spectra. These findings support a common acceleration mechanism for both electron populations and demonstrate the diagnostic value of combined HXR and radio observations for studying particle acceleration and escape. This project is developed at LIRA under the supervision of Dr. Nicole Vilmer and Dr. Milan Maksimovic.
The first of the two resulting papers was featured as a CESRA Solar Radio Science Highlight and a Solar Orbiter Science Nugget (#64) in June 2025.
Thesis available in HAL theses
Thesis defense available in Youtube
2021 - 2022
Observatoire de Paris - PSL
Majored in observational astrophysics, focusing on modern astrophysical instrumentation, data analysis, and active research. Completed research projects at LERMA (ISM chemistry) and LESIA (Solar Orbiter solar flare analysis). Learn More
Relevant courses:
- Data Analysis Wavelet transform, plasma physics, X-ray spectroscopy, radio imaging, Asteroseismology, spectropolarimetry
- Instrumentation and Observation Interferometry, adaptive optics, coronography, optic/IR telescopes, photometry, Allan deviation
- HPC/HPDA Parallelization (OpenMP, MPI), neural networks, spectral decomposition
- Exoplanets Radial velocity, transit, direct imaging and microlensing detection techniques
2020 - 2021
Sorbonne Université (UPMC) - Université de Paris
Graduate studies in fundamental physics with an emphasis on astrophysics, culminating in a research internship at APC on machine learning methods for high-energy cosmic particle classification. Learn More
Relevant courses:
- Astrophysics and Cosmology Stellar evolution, thermal history of the universe, ISM, astronomy
- Particle Physics Feynman diagrams, quantum number conservation, relativistic collisions, Standard Model
- Quantum Mechanics Quantum theory, Lie algebra, operators, quantum entropy
- Statistical Physics Thermodynamics, statistical ensembles, ergodic systems, quantum gases, Bose-Einstein and Fermi-Dirac statistics
- Atomic and Molecular Physics Electronic transitions, atomic and molecular orbitals, radiation in atoms
- Complex and Macroscopic Systems Fluids, viscosity, non-Newtonian fluids, intermolecular forces
2015 - 2019
Universidad de los Andes
Built a strong foundation in physics while conducting research in computational cosmology. Active member of the AstroAndes Computational Astrophysics Group and the GOA Optics Group. Learn More
Relevant courses:
- Open Clusters Astronomical observation techniques and image processing
- Modern Cosmology Theoretical and historical review of cosmology
- Quantum Mechanics & Particle Physics Quantum mechanics and introduction to quantum field theory
- Statistical Physics Thermodynamics and statistical ensembles
- Advanced Computational Methods Algorithms and data processing applications in science
2020
Coursera - DeepLearning.AI
Completed the Deep Learning Specialization covering modern neural network architectures, optimization techniques, computer vision, natural language processing, and sequence models. Certificate
- Neural Networks and Deep Learning
- Improving Deep Neural Networks: Hyperparameter Tuning, Regularization and Optimization
- Convolutional Neural Networks
- Sequence Models
- Structuring Machine Learning Projects
Doctoral school of Astronomy and Astrophysics of Ile-de-France - ED 127
I represented the interests of doctoral students at both the bureau and the council of the Ecole Doctorale. I also took part in the audition process for the PhD entrance competition, helping to ensure fair and balanced deliberations for all candidates
Jan 2023 - Jan 2025
Network of Colombian Students in Astronomy (RECA)
This program brings astronomy to different regions of Colombia, inviting Colombian astronomers to talk in schools. I have presented talks on multiple occasions and have mentored undergraduate students with interests in astrophysics.
RECA seminario 2026 [Youtube]
2019 - present
Universidad de los Andes
After a year of volunteering I was selected to perform the Leadership role in the program I was working then. I was in charge of the integration activities and social events planning, volunteer managing and general leading of the program. ANDAR is a student organization whose objective is to help first semesters scholarship students with dropping-out risk to have a smooth and enjoyable integration into university life.
Aug 2016 - May 2017
Astronomy & Astrophysics - Vol 710, Jun 2026, A213
David Paipa-Leon, Hamish Reid, Nicole Vilmer, Milan maksimovic
Studied 38 solar flares to show that the more energy a flare's escaping electrons carry, the brighter the radio signal they produce far out in space — a way to "weigh" flare electrons from a distance.
Read more (for a technical audience) ▾Leveraging Solar Orbiter's simultaneous X-ray (STIX) and radio (RPW) observations, we analyzed 38 events with a clear temporal association between hard X-ray (HXR) bursts and interplanetary type III radio bursts. We derived the spectral index and nonthermal power of the HXR-emitting electrons, and the frequency-drift-based exciter velocities of the escaping electron beams from the radio data. The type III peak radio flux anticorrelates with HXR spectral hardness and correlates with nonthermal electron power; radio-emitting electrons carry only a small fraction (<0.1%) of the energy of the HXR-emitting electrons, though the two are correlated — supporting a common accelerator for both populations.
[DOI]
June 2026
Astronomy & Astrophysics - Vol 694, Feb 2025, A111
David Paipa-Leon, Nicole Vilmer, Milan maksimovic, Vratislav Krupar, Antonio Vecchio
Found that a shift in a flare's X-ray "shape" happens just before its electrons escape into space — a clue to how they break free of the Sun's magnetic field.
Read more (for a technical audience) ▾Using the first period of simultaneous Solar Orbiter STIX (X-ray) and RPW (radio) observations, we analyzed 15 interplanetary type III radio bursts closely associated in time with hard X-ray flares. In every event, a change in HXR source morphology occurred within 6 minutes of the type III burst onset, pointing to interchange reconnection with open magnetic field lines as the mechanism enabling electron escape into interplanetary space.
Featured as a CESRA Solar Radio Science Highlight and a Solar Orbiter Science Nugget (#64), June 2025.
[DOI]
February 2025
The Astrophysical Journal - Vol 1008, Aug 2026, 110
Tulsi Thapa, Yihua Yan, Bing Ma, David Paipa-Leon, Marc Pulupa, Stuart D. Bale
Tracked radio bursts from a major 2024 solar storm using four spacecraft at once, to see how fast electrons escaped the Sun during extreme conditions.
Read more (for a technical audience) ▾Analyzed 11 type III radio bursts tied to X-class flares during the May 2024 "Mother's Day" geomagnetic storm, using Parker Solar Probe, Solar Orbiter, STEREO-A, and Wind. Radio flux at 1-2 MHz correlated strongly with GOES soft X-ray flux; radio onset preceded the coronal thermal response by several minutes. No systematic longitudinal drift in radio source position was found, unlike quieter-time studies — likely due to the storm's extreme heliospheric conditions.
[DOI]
August 2026
Astronomy & Astrophysics - Vol 701, Sep 2025, A20
A. Warmuth, F. Schuller, R. Gómez-Herrero, I. Cernuda, F. Carcaboso, G. M. Mason, N. Dresing, D. Pacheco, L. Rodríguez-García, M. Jarry, M. Kretzschmar, K. Barczynski, D. Shukhobodskaia, L. Rodriguez, S. Tan, D. Paipa-Leon, N. Vilmer, A. P. Rouillard, C. Sasso, S. Giordano, G. Russano, C. Grimani, F. Landini, C. Mac Cormack, J. A. J. Mitchell, A. Fedeli, L. Vuorinen, D. Lario, H. A. S. Reid, F. Effenberger, S. Musset, K. Riebe, A. Galkin, K. Makan, S. Reusch, A. Vecchio, O. Dudnik, S. Krucker, M. Maksimovic, J. Rodríguez-Pacheco, M. Romoli, R. F. Wimmer-Schweingruber
Helped build a public catalogue of 300+ high-energy electron events from the Sun, used to tell flare-driven space weather apart from eruption-driven space weather.
Read more (for a technical audience) ▾A multi-instrument-team effort (8 Solar Orbiter instrument teams) cataloguing 303 solar energetic electron (SEE) events (Nov 2020-Dec 2022). Found a clear split between impulsive-composition events (flare-related) and gradual-composition events (CME/shock-related); showed that observed timing delays between particle release and associated flares/radio bursts are partly a propagation effect, not purely delayed injection. My contribution: manually-characterized radio type III burst onset times from my own concurrent PhD work, plus early quicklook visualization software (combined STIX/RPW/EPD plots) that seeded the catalogue's association pipeline.
Featured in an ESA press release, "Double trouble: Solar Orbiter traces superfast electrons back to Sun" (Sept 2025).
[DOI]
September 2025
Astronomy & Astrophysics - Vol 697, May 2025, A216
Minghui Zhang, Nicole Vilmer, Karl-Ludwig Klein, Abdallah Hamini, David Paipa-Leon, Yin Zhang, Yihua Yan
Contributed X-ray analysis to a study showing that a solar flare kept accelerating particles for nearly an hour after its main explosion.
Read more (for a technical audience) ▾Case study of a C4.0-class flare (9 May 2021) with an unusually long (>50 min) decay phase and both moving and stationary type IV radio bursts. Combined STIX, Fermi/GBM, ground-based radio (Nançay/ORFEES), and STEREO-A/SDO EUV observations. Found HXR emission accompanying the onset of a stationary type IV burst — evidence for electron acceleration in large-scale magnetic flux ropes during the post-impulsive phase. My contribution was limited to STIX HXR spectroscopy: I characterized a faint, barely-dominant nonthermal component in the 14-20 keV range, narrowing its spectral index to ≈-7.5.
[DOI]
May 2025
MNRAS: Letters - Vol 500, Issue 1, Jan 2020, P L32–L36
J. D. Peñaranda-Rivera, David Paipa-León, S. D. Hernández-Charpak, J. E. Forero-Romero
Undergraduate research: proposed a new, simpler way to define and measure the largest structures in the universe using cosmological simulations.
Read more (for a technical audience) ▾Superclusters are a convenient way to partition and characterize the large scale structure of the Universe. In this Letter we explore the advantages of defining superclusters as watershed basins in the divergence velocity field. We apply this definition on diverse datasets generated from linear theory and N-body simulations, with different grid sizes, smoothing scales and types of tracers. From this framework emerges a linear scaling relation between the average supercluster size and the autocorrelation length in the divergence field, a result that holds for one order of magnitude from 10 Mpc/h up to 100 Mpc/h. These results suggest that the divergence-based definition provides a robust context to quantitatively compare results across different observational or computational frameworks. Through its connection with linear theory, it can also facilitate the exploration of how supercluster properties depend on cosmological parameters, paving the way to use superclusters as cosmological probes.
October 2020
- Ser Pilo Paga I (2015, Colombia) : Scholarship awarded to the 10,000 best high school students in the country to complete their undergraduate studies.
- Colfuturo (2020, Colombia) : Meritorious scholarship/loan awarded by the Colfuturo Foundation to outstanding university students to complete their postgraduate studies abroad.
- Sorbonne Scholarship (2020, France): financial aid granted to foreign students to complete their studies.
- Bourse Jean-Pierre Aguliar CFM (2022, France): funding granted to outstanding research projects in france.
- PSL funding for research exchange (2023, France): 5 week funding for research internship at UCL (Mullard Space Science Laboratory)
Standardized Test
The Saber Pro test is a standardized test carried out for final year bachelor's students to carry out an analysis of the performance of the new generation of undergraduate candidates in technical and university education institutions. I was classified in the 96th percentile, being among the best students nationwide in Colombia.
Conferences
- 1st Joint Symposium in Optics: Topics on non-linear phenomena (2019, Colombia) Organizer Universidad de los Andes
- CoCo2019 - Cosmology in Colombia(2019, Colombia) Speaker Universidad de los Andes
- MOCa - Dark Matter in Colombia 2018 (2018, Colombia) Assistant
- I Workshop on current challenges is cosmology 2018 (2018, Colombia) Assistant
- IONS Bogotá 2017 (2017, Colombia) Organizer International conference for OSA student chapters focused on outreach and research in optics. Held in the Universidad Nacional de Colombia and the Universidad de los Andes.
Schools
- Culham Plasma Physics Summer School 2024 (2024, Oxford, UK) UK Atomic Energy Authority
- PLASMAScience Summer School (2024, Porquerolles, France) Institut Polytechnique de Paris
- IVth Uniandes Particle Detector School 2018 (2018, Colombia) Universidad de los Andes
- Uniandes Astronomy School 2018 (2018, Colombia) Universidad de los Andes
- Advanced Mathematics School (2014, Colombia) Konrad Lorenz University
2014 - 2024
Oral presentations
- IAU Symposium 400 (2025, Medellín, Colombia)
- RPW consortium meeting (2023, 2024; Prague, Athens)
- STIX meeting (2023, 2024; Prague)
- Colloque PNST (2024, Marseille, France)
- Alliance meeting (2022, Paris, France)
- 30th Young Scientists' Conference on Astronomy and Space Physics (2024, Kyiv, Ukraine/online)
Posters
- EGU 2025 (Vienna, Austria)
- ESPM-17 (2024, Turin, Italy)
- EUI/STIX joint meeting (2024, Windisch, Switzerland)
2022 - 2025
Conferences
- Machine Learning y Data science en las grandes empresas (2020, Colombia) Talk on corporate uses of ML and DS (Spanish) [Youtube Link]
- Tejidos y ecosistemas programables (2020, Colombia) Talk on the boundary between chaos and biology from the perspective os programming (spanish) Event by Red Suratómica [Youtube Link]
Hackathons
- 3rd Science Hack day Hackathon 2019 (2019, Colombia) Plataforma Bogotá / CKWeb
2014 - 2020
Supervisor
When I worked as a consultant, Jonathan was my supervisor in charge for a time, he promoted some of my projects in biometrics and process automation, in which my performance was recognized by the company and the client. He was a great mentor, boss and friend who helped me to progress in my professional skills during my working days in Brazil.
e-mail: jonathan.galeano@msbrazil.com
PhD thesis supervisor
Nicole was my M2 internship supervisor and my PhD thesis supervisor as well.
e-mail: nicole.vilmer@obspm.fr
Currently in
Ivry-sur-Seine, Paris, France
davidpaipa03@gmail.com