Student Collaborators and Their Papers

G stands for graduate, U stands for undergraduate. The number following the letter represents the year in which we worked together.

Open positions available for graduate students and undergraduates.

Former students and some of their research topics

  1. Stephon Qian (G1): Planetesimal formation, meteorites, fluid instabilities

    1. Linear Thermal Instability of a Condensing Gas-Particle Mixture, Stephon Qian & Chiang, E. ApJ, in press (2025)

  2. Nick Choksi (G1/G2/G3/G4/G5/G6): Dynamics, planet formation, disk-planet hydrodynamic simulations, formation and evolution of star clusters including globular clusters, chondrule formation. 2019 Berkeley Astronomy Student Commencement Speaker, 2019 NSF Graduate Research Fellow, 2024 Berkeley Astronomy Trumpler Prize, 2025 Berkeley Astronomy Uhl Prize, 2025 Heising-Simons 51 Peg Fellow at Caltech

    1. The Resonant Remains of Broken Chains from Major and Minor Mergers, Li, R., Chiang, E., Choksi, N., & Dai, F. AJ, 169, 323 (2025)
    2. The Prevalence of Resonance Among Young, Close-in Planets, Dai, F. inc. Chiang, E., Choksi, N. AJ, 168, 239 (2024)
    3. Spectral Energy Distributions of Disc-Embedded Accreting Protoplanets, Choksi, N. & Chiang, E. MNRAS, 537, 2945 (2025)
    4. The Maximum Accretion Rate of a Protoplanet: How Fast Can Runaway Be?, Nick Choksi, Chiang, E., Fung, J., & Zhaohuan, Z. MNRAS, 525, 2806 (2023)
    5. Exciting the TTV Phases of Resonant Sub-Neptunes, Nick Choksi & Chiang, E. MNRAS, 522, 1914 (2023)
    6. Testing Planet Formation from the Ultraviolet to the Millimetre, Nick Choksi & Chiang, E. MNRAS, 510, 1657 (2021)
    7. Sub-Neptune Formation: The View from Resonant Planets, Nick Choksi & Chiang, E. MNRAS, 495, 4192 (2020)
    8. Chondrules from High-Velocity Collisions: Thermal Histories and the Agglomeration Problem, Nick Choksi, Chiang, E., Connolly, H.C., Jr., Gainsforth, Z., & Westphal, A.J. MNRAS, 503, 3297 (2021)

  3. Joshua W. Jones (U1/U2): Debris disks, giant impacts

    1. Giant Impacts and Debris Disk Morphology, Joshua W. Jones, Chiang, E., Duchene, G., Kalas, P., & Esposito, T.M. ApJ, 948, 102 (2023). Animated gifs available at this URL

  4. Joshua Bromley (U2/U3/U4): Nonlinear dynamics, chaos, disintegrating planets, planetary rings and satellites, 2024 Berkeley Astronomy Department Citation, University of Toronto Astronomy graduate student

    1. Chaotic Winds from a Dying World: A One-Dimensional Map for Evolving Atmospheres, Joshua Bromley & Chiang, E. MNRAS, 521, 5746 (2023)

  5. Robert Michael Jennings, Jr. (U4): Hydrodynamic simulations, self-gravitating disks, obliquities of planetary-mass objects. 2021 Berkeley Astronomy Klumpke-Roberts Prize, Johns Hopkins Physics & Astronomy graduate student

    1. Primordial Obliquities of Brown Dwarfs and Super-Jupiters from Fragmenting Gravito-Turbulent Discs, R. Michael Jennings & Chiang, E. ApJ, 507, 5187 (2021; Berkeley Astronomy Honors Thesis)

  6. Jonathan Lin (U2/U3/U4): Planet formation, debris disks, UCLA Physics & Astronomy graduate student and NSF Graduate Research Fellow

    1. Sculpting Eccentric Debris Disks with Eccentric Gas Rings, Jonathan W. Lin & Chiang, E. ApJ, 883, 68 (2019)
    2. A Balanced Budget View on Forming Giant Planets by Pebble Accretion, Jonathan W. Lin, Eve J. Lee, & Eugene Chiang, MNRAS, 480, 4338 (2018)

  7. Benjamin Vinson (U3/U4): Three-body problem

    1. Secular Dynamics of an Exterior Test Particle: The Inverse Kozai and Other Eccentricity-Inclination Resonances, Benjamin R. Vinson & Eugene Chiang, MNRAS, 474, 4855 (2018)

  8. Eve J. Lee (G1/G2/G3/G4/G5): Planet and star formation. 2017 Berkeley Astronomy Uhl Prize, Sherman Fairchild Fellow in Theoretical Physics at Caltech, Assistant Professor of Physics at McGill, 2022 American Astronomical Society Annie Jump Cannon Award, 2025 Associate Professor of Astronomy at UC San Diego

    1. A Balanced Budget View on Forming Giant Planets by Pebble Accretion, Jonathan W. Lin, Eve J. Lee, & Eugene Chiang, MNRAS, 480, 4338 (2018)
    2. Optically Thin Core Accretion: How Planets Get Their Gas in Nearly Gas-Free Discs, Eve J. Lee, Eugene Chiang, & Jason W. Ferguson, MNRAS, 476, 2199 (2018)
    3. Magnetospheric Truncation, Tidal Inspiral, and the Creation of Short-Period and Ultra-Short-Period Planets, Eve J. Lee & Eugene Chiang, ApJ, 842, 40 (2017)
    4. A Primer for Unifying Debris Disk Morphologies, Eve J. Lee & Eugene Chiang, ApJ, 827, 125 (2016)
    5. Breeding Super-Earths and Birthing Super-Puffs in Transitional Disks, Eve J. Lee & Eugene Chiang, ApJ, 817, 90 (2016)
    6. Correlations Between Compositions and Orbits Established by the Giant Impact Era of Planet Formation, Rebekah I. Dawson, Eve J. Lee & Eugene Chiang, ApJ, 822, 54 (2016)
    7. A Metallicity Recipe for Rocky Planets, Rebekah I. Dawson, Eugene Chiang & Eve J. Lee, MNRAS, 453, 1471 (2015)
    8. To Cool is to Accrete: Analytic Scalings for Nebular Accretion of Planetary Atmospheres, Eve J. Lee & Eugene Chiang, ApJ, 811, 41 (2015)
    9. Make Super-Earths, Not Jupiters: Accreting Nebular Gas onto Solid Cores at 0.1 AU and Beyond, Eve J. Lee, Eugene Chiang, & Chris W. Ormel, ApJ, 797, 95 (2014)

  9. Tushar Mittal (G1/G2): Planetesimal formation, debris disks, mantle plumes. Assistant Professor of Geosciences at Penn State

    1. Fast Modes and Dusty Horseshoes in Transitional Disks, Tushar Mittal & Eugene Chiang, ApJ Letters, 798, L25 (2015)

  10. Skylar Kerzner (U2): Protoplanetary disk rotation curves, with application to the Atacama Large Millimeter Array. 2014 Berkeley Astronomy Student Commencement Speaker, Senior Data Scientist at Snap

    1. Weak Turbulence in the HD 163296 Protoplanetary Disk Revealed by ALMA CO Observations, Kevin M. Flaherty, Meredith A. Hughes, Katherine A. Rosenfeld, Sean M. Andrews, Eugene Chiang, Jacob B. Simon, Skylar Kerzner, & David J. Wilner, ApJ, 813, 99 (2015)

  11. Daniel Perez-Becker (G3/G4/G5/G6/G7): Ionization chemistry of protoplanetary disks, hot Jupiter hydrodynamics, disintegrating rocky planets. Senior Data Scientist at Microsoft

    1. Catastrophic Evaporation of Rocky Planets, Daniel Perez-Becker & Eugene Chiang, MNRAS, 433, 2294-2309 (2013)
    2. Atmospheric Heat Redistribution on Hot Jupiters, Daniel Perez-Becker & Adam P. Showman, ApJ, 776:134 16pp (2013)
    3. Surface Layer Accretion in Conventional and Transitional Disks Driven by Far-Ultraviolet Ionization, Daniel Perez-Becker & Eugene Chiang, ApJ, 735:8 13pp (2011)
    4. Surface Layer Accretion in Transitional and Conventional Disks: From Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons to Planets, Daniel Perez-Becker & Eugene Chiang, ApJ, 727:2 20pp (2011)

  12. Ruth A. Murray-Clay (G2/G3/G4/G5/G6): Planetary dynamics, planet formation, hot Jupiter atmospheres, pre-main-sequence phenomena. 2008 Berkeley Astronomy Uhl Prize, 2015 American Astronomical Society Warner Prize, Professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics, UC Santa Cruz

    1. Atmospheric Escape from Hot Jupiters, R. A. Murray-Clay, E. I. Chiang, & N. Murray, ApJ, 693, 23-42 (2009)
    2. Inside-Out Evacuation of Transitional Protoplanetary Discs by the Magneto-Rotational Instability, E. Chiang & R. Murray-Clay, Nature Physics, 3, 604 (2007)
    3. The Origin of the Young Stars in the Nucleus of M31, P. Chang, R. Murray-Clay, E. Chiang, & E. Quataert, ApJ, 668, 236 (2007)
    4. Brownian Motion in Planetary Migration, R. A. Murray-Clay & E. I. Chiang, ApJ, 651, 1194-1208 (2006)
    5. A Brief History of Trans-Neptunian Space, E. Chiang, Y. Lithwick, R. Murray-Clay, M. Buie, W. Grundy, & M. Holman, invited review chapter for Protostars and Planets V, 895-909 (2007)
    6. A Signature of Planetary Migration: The Origin of Asymmetric Capture in the 2:1 Resonance, Ruth A. Murray-Clay & Eugene I. Chiang, 619, 623-638 (2005)
    7. The Circumbinary Ring of KH 15D, E. I. Chiang & R. A. Murray-Clay, ApJ, 617, 913-920 (2004)

  13. Hyomin Choi (U2/U3/U4): Oort Cloud, Kuiper Belt. Software Engineer at Google

    1. The Warped Plane of the Classical Kuiper Belt, Eugene Chiang & Hyomin Choi, AJ, 136, 350-357 (2008)

  14. Aaron T. Lee (G1/G2): Planetesimal formation, star formation. Assistant Professor of Physics and Astronomy at St. Mary's College

    1. Forming Planetesimals by Gravitational Instability: I. The Role of the Richardson Number in Triggering the Kelvin-Helmholtz Instability , Aaron T. Lee, Eugene Chiang, Xylar Asay-Davis, & Joseph Barranco, ApJ, 718, 1367-1377 (2010)
    2. Forming Planetesimals by Gravitational Instability: II. How Dust Settles to its Marginally Stable State, Aaron T. Lee, Eugene Chiang, Xylar Asay-Davis, & Joseph Barranco, ApJ, 725, 1938-1954 (2010)

  15. Linda E. Strubbe (G2/G3): Debris disks, planetary dynamics, galaxy formation. Science Education Consultant and Researcher

    1. Dust Dynamics, Surface Brightness Profiles, and Thermal Emission Spectra of Debris Disks: The Case of AU Mic, Linda E. Strubbe & Eugene I. Chiang, ApJ, 648, 652-665 (2006)

  16. Jessica R. Lovering (U1/U2/U3): Observations of the Kuiper Belt, astrometry, origin of Trojan librators. Nuclear Energy and Science Policy Analyst, Co-Founder and Co-Executive Director of the Good Energy Collective

    1. Resonant and Secular Families of the Kuiper Belt , E. I. Chiang, J.R. Lovering, R. L. Millis, M. W. Buie, L. H. Wasserman, & K. J. Meech, Earth, Moon, & Planets, as part of First Decadal Review of the Kuiper Belt special issue, 92, 49-62 (2003)

  17. Christopher J. Culter (U1/U2/U3/U4): Narrow ring dynamics, chaos. Principal Software Engineer at stealth startup

    1. Three-Dimensional Dynamics of Narrow Planetary Rings, E. I. Chiang & C. J. Culter, ApJ, 599, 675-685 (2004)
    2. The 1/5 Law for Chaos in the Three-Body Problem at Moderate Eccentricity, Christopher Culter, Honors Thesis in Physics (2005)

  18. Amy Jordan (U3/U4): Observations of the Kuiper Belt, astrometry, resonance dynamics. Research Scientist at Carbon Solutions LLC

    1. On the Plutinos and Twotinos of the Kuiper Belt, E. I. Chiang & A. B. Jordan, ApJ, 124, 3430-3444 (2002)
    2. Resonance Occupation in the Kuiper Belt: Case Examples of the 5:2 and Trojan Resonances, E. I. Chiang, A. B. Jordan, R. L. Millis, M. W. Buie, L. H. Wasserman, J. L. Elliot, S. D. Kern, D. E. Trilling, K. J. Meech, & R. M. Wagner, AJ, 126, 430-443 (2003)

  19. Ryan Moo Kwang Joung (U3/U4): Thermodynamics and spectra of protoplanetary disks

    1. Spectral Energy Distributions of Passive T Tauri and Herbig Ae Disks: Grain Mineralogy, Parameter Dependences, and Comparison with ISO LWS Observations, E. I. Chiang, M.K. Joung, M.J. Creech-Eakman, C. Qi, J. Kessler, G.A. Blake, & E.F. van Dishoeck, ApJ, 547, 1077-1089 (2001)
    2. ISO LWS Spectra of T Tauri and Herbig AeBe Stars, M.J. Creech-Eakman, E.I. Chiang, R.M.K. Joung, G.A. Blake, & E.F. van Dishoeck, A & A, 385, 546-562 (2002)