Curriculum Vitae

(last update: 12/12/2023)

CV: [PDF]

Employment History

  • Sagan Fellow, University of California Santa Cruz (10/2022 - present)
    Hosts: Prof. Jonathan J. Fortney
  • Postdoctoral Fellow, The University of Texas at Austin (09/2021 - 09/2022)
    Hosts: Prof. Brendan P. Bowler and Prof. Caroline V. Morley
  • Research Assistant, University of Hawaii (2016 - 2021)
    Advisor: Prof. Michael C. Liu
  • Teaching Assistant, University of Hawaii (2015 - 2016)
    Instructors: Dr. Geoff Mathews and Prof. Robert Joseph
  • REU Intern, Harvard-Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (Summer 2014)
    Advisors: Prof. Christine Jones and Prof. Marie Machacek

Education

  • Ph.D in Astronomy, University of Hawaii (08/2021)
    Title: Discovery and Characterization of Giant Planets and Brown Dwarfs on Wide Orbits
    Advisor: Prof. Michael C. Liu
  • M.S. in Astronomy, University of Hawaii (2017)
  • B.S. in Astronomy, Nanjing University, China (2015)

Research Interest

  • Formation of gas-giant planets and brown dwarfs
  • Elemental abundances of exoplanets and their host stars
  • Large-scale survey
  • Orbital architecture of planetary systems

Honors and Awards

  • 2023 OWL Mini Grant ($2,400), Heising-Simons Foundation & UC Santa Cruz
  • 2022 NASA Hubble Fellowship Program (NHFP) Sagan Fellowship [media]
  • 2022 Rodger Doxsey Travel Prize, 239th American Astronomical Society Meeting
    Travel prize for giving an oral presentation of PhD dissertation at the 239th AAS (10 recipients / 116 entries). [media]
  • 2020 OVCR Student Excellence in Research Award, University of Hawaii at Manoa
    Awarded to 3 students per year across all departments of University of Hawaii. [media]
  • 2019 Exoplanet Summer Program Mini Grant, Heising-Simons Foundation & University of California Santa Cruz
    Travel grant of $2.8K for attending international conferences.
  • 2017 Chambliss Astronomy Achievement Student Award, 229th American Astronomical Society Meeting
    Top poster presentation at the 229th AAS Meeting (6 awarded in total) [media]
  • 2017 Friends of the IfA Project Award, Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii at Manoa
    Top research project among 2nd-year graduate students in Institute for Astronomy.
  • 2016 Friends of the IfA Project Award, Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii at Manoa
    Top research project among 1st-year graduate students in Institute for Astronomy.
  • 2015 IfA Director’s Research Award, Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii at Manoa

Professional Service

  • Lamat REU Mentor at UC Santa Cruz (Summer 2023)
  • Organizer of the Planetary Lunch Seminar (PLUNCH) at UC Santa Cruz (2022 - present)
  • NASA Grant Panel Reviewer
  • Hubble Space Telescope Proposal Reviewer
  • Referee for AJ, ApJ, and A&A (2020 - present)
  • Reviewer for the NASA Hubble Fellowship Application Feedback Program (2022 - present)
  • Organizer of the Weekly Club of Research Highlights (ExoUpdate) at UT Austin (2022)
  • TAURUS REU Mentor at UT Austin (Summer 2022)
  • Hands-On Session Facilitator of the Sagan Exoplanet Summer Workshop (2021)
  • Judge of the 237th AAS Chambliss Poster Competition (2021)
  • Time Allocation Committee of University of Hawaii (2019 - 2020)
  • Student Representative of the IfA Mentoring in Lower Years (IfAMiLY) program (2018)
  • Graduate Student Organization Representative for Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii (2015 - 2016)

Observing Experience

Refereed Publications (39)

First-author (11)

  • Zhang, Z., Molliere, P., Hawkins, K., et al. “ELemental abundances of Planets and brown dwarfs Imaged around Stars (ELPIS): I. Potential Metal Enrichment of the Exoplanet AF Lep b and a Novel Retrieval Approach for Cloudy Self-luminous Atmospheres” 2023c, AJ, in press
  • Zhang, Z., Morley, C. V., Gully-Santiago, M., et al. “Giant Tidal Tails of Helium Escaping the hot Jupiter HAT-P-32 b” 2023b, Science Advances, Vol 9, Issue 23
  • Zhang, Z., Bowler, B. P., Dupuy, T. J., et al. "The McDonald Accelerating Stars Surveys (MASS): Architecture of the Ancient Five-Planet Host System Kepler-444." 2022b, AJ, in press
  • Zhang, Z., Liu, M. C., Morley, C. V., Magnier, E. A., Tucker, M. A., Do, A. Shappee, B. J. "COol Companions ON Ultrawide orbiTS (COCONUTS). III. An Unusually Red L Dwarf around a Young M Dwarf." 2022a, ApJ, 935, 15
  • Zhang, Z., Liu, M. C., Claytor, Z. R., Best, W. M. J., Dupuy, T. J., Siverd, R. J. "The Second Discovery from the COol Companions ON Ultrawide orbiTS (COCONUTS) Program: A Cold Wide-Orbit Exoplanet around a Young Field M Dwarf at 10.9 pc." 2021d, ApJL, 916, 11
  • Zhang, Z., Liu, M. C., Marley, M. S., Line, M. R., & Best, W. M. J. "Uniform Forward-Modeling Analysis of Ultracool Dwarfs. II. Atmospheric Properties of 55 Late-T Dwarfs." 2021c, ApJ, 921 95
  • Zhang, Z., Liu, M. C., Marley, M. S., Line, M. R., & Best, W. M. J. "Uniform Forward-Modeling Analysis of Ultracool Dwarfs. I. Methodology and Benchmarking." 2021b, ApJ, 916, 53
  • Zhang, Z., Liu, M. C., Best, W. M. J., Dupuy, T. J., & Siverd, R. J., "The Hawaii Infrared Parallax Program. V. New T-Dwarf Members and Candidate Members of Nearby Young Moving Groups." 2021a, ApJ, 911, 7
  • Zhang, Z., Liu, M. C., Hermes, J. J., Magnier, E. A., Marley, M. S., et al. "COol Companions ON Ultrawide orbiTS (COCONUTS). I. A High-Gravity T4 Benchmark around an Old White Dwarf and A Re-Examination of the Surface-Gravity Dependence of the L/T Transition." 2020, ApJ, 891, 171
  • Zhang, Z., Liu, M. C., Best, W. M. J., Magnier, E. A., et al. "The Pan-STARRS1 Proper-motion Survey for Young Brown Dwarfs in Nearby Star-forming Regions. I. Taurus Discoveries and a Reddening-free Classification Method for Ultracool Dwarfs." 2018, ApJ, 858, 41
  • Zhang, Z., Shi, Y., Rieke, G. H., et al. "Distributions of Quasar Hosts on the Galaxy Main Sequence Plane." 2016, ApJL, 819, 27

Second/Third-author (6)

  • Zhang, R., Liu, M. C., Zhang, Z., et al. "“A Possible Correlation between Metallicity and Near-IR Color for Late-M and L Dwarfs”" 2023, AAS Journals, under review
  • Phillips, M. W., Liu, M. C., Zhang, Z., et al. "The Carbon-to-Oxygen Ratio in Cool Brown Dwarfs and Giant Exoplanets. I. Benchmark T dwarfs GJ 570D and Ross 458C" 2023, AAS Journals, under review
  • Bowler, B. P., Tran, Q., Zhang, Z., et al. "Rotation Periods, Inclinations, and Obliquities of Cool Stars Hosting Directly Imaged Substellar Companions: Spin-Orbit Misalignments are Ubiquitous" 2023, AJ, 165, 164 [ADS]
  • Hurt, S. A., Liu, M. C., Zhang, Z., et al. “Uniform Forward-Modeling Analysis of Ultracool Dwarfs. III. Late-M and L Dwarfs in Young Moving Groups, the Pleiades, and the Hyades” 2023, AAS Journals, under review
  • Sepulveda, A. G., Huber, D., Zhang, Z., et al. "The Directly Imaged Exoplanet Host Star 51 Eridani is a Gamma Doradus Pulsator" 2022, ApJL, 938, 49 [ADS]
  • Liu, M. C., Magnier, E. A., Zhang, Z., et al. "On The Unusual Variability of 2MASS J06195260$-$2903592: A Long-Lived Disk around a Young Ultracool Dwarf." 2022, AJ, 164, 165 [ADS]

Co-author (22)

  • Petrus, S., et al. (incl. Zhang, Z.), "The JWSTEarly Release Science Program for Direct Observations of Exoplanetary Systems IV: Do Self-Consistent Atmospheric Models Represent JWST Spectra? A Showcase With VHS 1256 b" 2023, A&A, under review [ADS]
  • Biddle, L. I., et al. (incl. Zhang, Z.), 2023, AAS Journal, under review [ADS]
  • Gully-Santiago, M., et al. (incl. Zhang, Z.), "A Large and Variable Leading Tail of Helium in a Hot Saturn Undergoing Runaway Inflation" 2023, AJ, under review [ADS]
  • Liu, P., et al. (incl. Zhang, Z.), "A Near-infrared Variability Survey of Young Planetary-mass Objects" 2023, MNRAS, under review
  • Damian, B., et al. (incl. Zhang, Z.), "A novel survey for young substellar objects with the W-band filter VI: Spectroscopic census of sub-stellar members and the IMF of σ Orionis cluster" 2023, AAS Journals, re-submitted
  • Sanghi, A., et al. (incl. Zhang, Z.), "The Hawaii Infrared Parallax Program. VI. The Fundamental Properties of 1000+ Ultracool Dwarfs and Planetary-Mass Objects using Optical to Mid-infrared Spectral Energy Distributions" 2023, AAS Journals, under review
  • Miles, B. E., et al. (incl. Zhang, Z.), "The JWST Early Release Science Program for Direct Observations of Exoplanetary Systems II: A 1 to 20 Micron Spectrum of the Planetary-Mass Companion VHS 1256-1257 b" 2022, ApJL, 946, 6 [ADS]
  • Carter, A. L., et al. (incl. Zhang, Z.), "The JWST Early Release Science Program for Direct Observations of Exoplanetary Systems I: High Contrast Imaging of the Exoplanet HIP 65426 b from 2-16μm" 2022, AAS Journals, under review [ADS]
  • Franson, K., et al. (incl. Zhang, Z.), "Astrometric Accelerations as Dynamical Beacons: Discovery and Characterization of HIP 21152 B, the First T-Dwarf Companion in the Hyades", 2023, AJ 165, 39 [ADS]
  • Dubber, S., et al. (incl. Zhang, Z.), "A Novel Survey for Young Substellar Objects with the W-band Filter. IV. Detection and characterisation of low-mass brown dwarfs in Serpens Core", 2023, MNRAS, 520, 3383 [ADS]
  • Lalchand, B., et al. (incl. Zhang, Z.) "A Novel Survey for Young Substellar Objects with the W band Filter.V. IC 348 and Barnard 5 in the Perseus Cloud." 2022, ApJ, 164, 125 [ADS]
  • Zalesky, J., et al. (incl. Zhang, Z.) "A Uniform Retrieval Analysis of Ultra-cool Dwarfs. IV. A Statistical Census from 50 Late-T Dwarfs." 2022, ApJ, 936, 44 [ADS]
  • Gaidos, E., et al. (incl. Zhang, Z.) "Zodiacal exoplanets in time (ZEIT) XII: a directly imaged planetary-mass companion to a young Taurus M dwarf star." 2021, MNRAS, 512, 583 [ADS]
  • Dubber, S., et al. (incl. Zhang, Z.) "A Novel Survey for Young Substellar Objects with the W-band filter III: Searching for very low mass brown dwarfs in Serpens South and Serpens Core." 2021, MNRAS, 505, 4215 [ADS]
  • Salama, M., et al. (incl. Zhang, Z.) "Large Adaptive Optics Survey for Substellar Objects (LASSO) Around Young, Nearby, Low-mass Stars with Robo-AO." 2021, ApJ, in press [ADS]
  • Fontanive, C., et al. (incl. Zhang, Z.) "A Wide Planetary-Mass Companion to a Young Low-mass Brown Dwarf in Ophiuchus." 2020, ApJL, in press [ADS]
  • Vedantham, H. K., et al. (incl. Zhang, Z.) "Direct radio discovery of a cold brown dwarf." 2020, ApJL, 903, 33 [ADS] [astrobites]
  • Jose, J., et al. (incl. Zhang, Z.) "A Novel Survey for Young Substellar Objects with the W-band Filter. II. The Coolest and Lowest Mass Members of the Serpens-South Star-forming Region." 2020, ApJ, 892, 122 [ADS]
  • Dupuy, T., et al. (incl. Zhang, Z.) "WISE J072003.20-084651.2B is a Massive T Dwarf." 2019, ApJ, 158, 174 [ADS]
  • Dye, S., et al. (incl. Zhang, Z.) "The UKIRT Hemisphere Survey: definition and J-band data release." 2018, MNRAS, 473, 5113 [ADS]
  • Best, W. M. J., et al. (incl. Zhang, Z.) "Photometry and Proper Motions of M, L, and T Dwarfs from the Pan-STARRS1 3π Survey." 2018, ApJ, 234, 1 [ADS]
  • Best, W. M. J., et al. (incl. Zhang, Z.) "A Search for L/T Transition Dwarfs with Pan-STARRS1 and WISE. III. Young L Dwarf Discoveries and Proper Motion Catalogs in Taurus and Scorpius-Centaurus." 2017, ApJ, 837, 95 [ADS]

Non-Refereed Publications (2)

Co-author (2)

  • Sepulveda, Aldo G., Huber, D., Li, G., (incl. Zhang, Z.), et al. “20 s Cadence TESS Photometry of HR 8799”, 2023, RNAAS, 7, 2 [ADS]
  • Best, W., et al. (incl. Zhang, Z.) "The UltracoolSheet: Photometry, Astrometry, Spectroscopy, and Multiplicity for 3000+ Ultracool Dwarfs and Imaged Exoplanets" 2020, Zenodo [link]

Students Advised

  • Maria Cuevas (Summer 2023), undergraduate students at UC Santa Cruz (ASTR9A class)
    Luminosity and Photometry of Directly Imaged Exoplanets
  • Stuti Garg, Tatum Lexvold, Ben McBride, Simon Seo (Spring 2023; ASTR9A), undergraduate students at UC Santa Cruz
    Photometric and kinematic properties of nearby young moving groups
  • Emily Mader (Fall 2022 - present), undergraduate student at UC Santa Cruz
    Atmospheric properties of benchmark brown dwarfs and planetary-mass objects
  • Fahham Kurji (Spring 2023 - present), undergraduate student at UC Santa Cruz
    Atmospheric properties of free-floating planets
  • Malik Bossett (Summer 2022), undergraduate at Northern Arizona University
    Cloud properties of benchmark brown dwarfs and giant planets (TAURUS Program at UT Austin)
  • Neel Nagarajan (Spring 2022), undergraduate student at the University of Texas at Austin
    Helium outflows from young hot Jupiters
  • Spencer Hurt (Summer 2021), undergraduate student at the University of Colorado Boulder
    Atmospheric modeling of young L dwarfs (REU Program at University of Hawaii)
  • Bryan Yamashiro (2019-2021), graduate student at University of Hawaii
    Peer Mentoring Program at University of Hawaii
  • Sage Constantinou (2020-2021), graduate student at University of Hawaii
    Peer Mentoring Program at University of Hawaii

Outreach

  • Volunteer at the State Capitol on Children & Youth Day for the astronomy information booth, solar view, and the scale solar system (Oct 2019)
  • Volunteer stronomy outreach activities at the University of Hawaii campus center courtyard (Oct 2019)
  • Volunteer at Hawaii Astronomy Forum & Fair on campus of the University of Hawaii (Sept 2019)
  • Star Lab at the Hokulani Elementary School (May 2019)
  • Volunteer at the annual open house event of Institute for Astronomy (2017, 2018)