I was born in the city of Passo Fundo ("Deep Step"), located in the "deep south" of Brazil in the state of Rio Grande do Sul. People from that state are called "gauchos" in Brazil.

I lived for many years in the city of Porto Alegre (`"Happy Harbor"), also located in Rio Grande do Sul, where I received my Ph.D. from Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS) in 2009, under the supervision of Prof. Thaisa Storchi Bergmann. I also spent some time visiting Penn State University (Pennsylvania, US), Durham University (UK) and the University of Wyoming (Wyoming, US).

After becoming a doctor, I spent some months as visiting faculty in UFRGS. Then I moved to USA in Aug. 2010. I have been since working as a postdoctoral researcher at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. At NASA, I am collaborating with Fermi and Swift researchers in the Astroparticle Physics and X-ray Astrophysics Labs.