Prof. Judit Szulágyi had started working at Nasa directly after her Bachelors and has recently founded the group for Computational Astrophysics here at ETH Zurich. She uses computer symulations to solve problems from a range of the formation of planetary systems to the merger of galaxies and black holes.

One of her research areas is the computational simulation of the formation of moons. This is particularly interesting because moons which contain water, are most likely to eventually contain extraterritorial life. Using machine learning to filter the most accurate computer simulations an thus trying to understand which conditions foster the emerging of watery moons and thus formate educated guesses on the frequency of such moons which eventually contain extraterritorial life.