Research

 
 
 
 
 

Graduate Research Assistant

Advisor: Professor Steve Majewski

Jun 2022 – Present Department of Astronomy, University of Virginia

Searching for White Dwarf Main Sequence (WDMS) Binary Systems with Neural Networks

  • Search through millions of low resolution stellar spectra from Gaia Data Release 3
  • ~700 confirmed WDMS systems with both high and low resolution spectra as training sample
  • Data augmentation with synthetic training data
  • Developing a two-headed neural network to classify WDMS systems and fit stellar parameters
  • Interpreting the decision making process of the trained model through visualization methods
 
 
 
 
 

Graduate Research Assistant

Advisor: Professor Stephen Baek

May 2022 – Present School of Data Science, University of Virginia

Accelerating Spin Dynamics Numerical Simulation with Physics-Aware Neural Network

  • Accelerating quantum mechanics simulation with neural network
  • Developing a neural network for inference of force that would preserve SO(3) rotational symmetry in the underlying physics system
  • Developing a physics-aware neural network that could replace the traditional FEM numerical solver for the spin dynamics problem
 
 
 
 
 

Graduate Research Assistant

Advisor: Professor Steve Majewski

May 2020 – Mar 2022 Department of Astronomy, University of Virginia

Kinematical Analysis of Substructure in the Large Magellanic Cloud

  • Millions of stars from Gaia Early Data Release 3
  • Examined the kinematical structures of the Large Magellanic Cloud
  • Collaboration with research group from NMSU, STScI and NOAO
  • Paper published in ApJ
 
 
 
 
 

Graduate Research Assistant

Advisor: Professor Steve Majewski

Mar 2020 – Present Department of Astronomy, University of Virginia

Density Map of the Milky Way Galaxy

  • Millions of stars from Gaia Data Release 3
  • Computed intrinsic velocity dispersion by removing the contribution from uncertainty of individual stars
  • Combined Jeans Equation and Poisson Equation to measure the surface density of any given point in our Galaxy
  • Compared to models of visible matter to extract the distribution of dark matter
 
 
 
 
 

Graduate Research Assistant

Advisor: Professor Steve Majewski

Aug 2019 – Dec 2020 Department of Astronomy, University of Virginia

Exploring asymmetries in the kinematics of the Galactic disk with Gaia and APOGEE

  • SDSS-IV Project 0722
  • Converted observables to phase-space information
  • Compared observation results to existing numerical simulation
  • Built a simple warp model with Jeans equation
  • Paper published in ApJ
 
 
 
 
 

Research Assistant

Advisor: Professor Chao Liu

May 2018 – Mar 2019 National Astronomical Observatory of China (NAOC)

Galactic kinematics with OB stars from LAMOST-Gaia dataset

  • Coded adaptive kernel density estimation (KDE) in Python
  • Extracted kinematics structure from dataset with various methods
  • Determined most possible theoretical explanation for observed ripples in radial velocity
  • Paper published in ApJ Letter
 
 
 
 
 

Research Assistant

Advisor: Professor Shude Mao

Sep 2017 – Jul 2019 Department of Physics, Tsinghua University

Confirmation of strong lensing candidates using CFHT Megacam

  • Refined the candidate list from previous research experience during June 2017 - September 2017
  • Wrote observation proposal and designed details (exposure time, sequence of observation, etc.) of observation
  • Applied and approved for CFHT Megacam observation (18BS06) in September 2018 as the Principle Investigator
  • Processed Megacam imaging data (coadding, psf, photometry and foreground removal)
  • Paper published in RAA
 
 
 
 
 

Undergraduate Research Assistant

Advisor: Professor Jean-Paul Kneib

Jun 2017 – Sep 2017 École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne

Searching for galaxy-galaxy strong lensing candidates in SDSS-III BOSS

  • Improved previous spectroscopic searching method
  • Data-processing code exceeds 10 thousand lines of Python
  • Searched through the entire database (~1.5 million galaxies) within 12 hours
  • Compiled a list of most possible strong lensing candidates
 
 
 
 
 

Undergraduate Research Assistant

Advisor: Professor Charling Tao

Feb 2016 – May 2017 Department of Physics, Tsinghua University

Searching for super-Eddington accreting black holes candidates in SDSS-III Reverberation Mapping campaign

  • Built spectra decomposition programs from scratch in Python
  • Extensive literature reading
  • Compared Radius-Luminosity relationship with results from other researchers