Zirui Chen

Hi! My name is Zirui. I am a graduate student at UCSB's Department of Physics. I earned my undergraduate degrees in Physics and Astronomy at Columbia University, where I was a John Jay Scholar, a Junior Phi Beta Kappa, and graduated with latin honors (Summa Cum Laude) and departmental honors. I started pursuing my (Astro)physics PhD at UCSB in Fall 2022. I am currently working with Professor Siang Peng Oh, partially supported by the James and Mary Jo Hartle Graduate Fellowship.

Research

My research focuses on using theoretical models and simulations to understand the fluid dynamics and multiphase nature of galactic winds and the circumgalactic medium.

During my undergrad, I had the pleasure to work with Greg Bryan (Columbia) and Drummond Fielding (CCA) on developing analytic models for turbulent radiative mixing layers in galaxies, and with David Kipping (Columbia) at the Cool Worlds Lab on simulating transit patterns of circumbinary planets.