Hello! I’m Zhoujian (ZJ) Zhang (张周健), an assistant professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Rochester. Before joining U of R, I was a NASA Sagan Fellow at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Texas at Austin. I earned my Ph.D. in Astronomy from the University of Hawai‘i in 2021 and my B.S. in Astronomy from Nanjing University in 2015.
My research focuses on using James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), Hubble Space Telescope (HST), and ground-based spectroscopy to characterize the atmospheres of exoplanets, brown dwarfs, and low-mass stars, aiming to understand how accurately we can probe their atmospheric properties and how these properties reveal clues about their formation and evolution. I also use wide-field digital sky surveys, including the NSF-DOE Rubin Observatory Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) and ESA's Euclid mission, to search for new exoplanets and brown dwarfs, expand the known census of these exo-worlds, and discover new, rare, and extreme worlds.
I lead several observational programs using both space-based telescopes, such as the JWST, HST, and ground-based facilities, including Keck, Gemini, the Hobby Eberly Telescope, UKIRT, CFHT, and IRTF. I also lead several dedicated research programs, such as the COol Companions ON Ultrawide orbiTS (COCONUTS), ELemental abundances of Planets and brown dwarfs Imaged around Stars (ELPIS), and Ultracool dwarf Science with MachIne LEarning (USMILE)
My CV is accessible here.
