Congratulations to Our Spring 2024 College of Science Graduate Student Award Recipients
Grad students Haowen Zhang, Logan Pearce and Haley Bowden receive College of Science Graduate Student Awards for their accomplishments in our department for Scholarship/Research, Service, and Teaching, respectively.
Haowen Zhang, Graduate Student of the Year & Scholarship Award Recipient
I am interested in two important aspects of galaxy formation and evolution:
1) What do supermassive black holes in galaxy centers look like in different galaxies and cosmic times?
2) What are the 3-dimensional shapes of galaxies, and how do they evolve with other galaxy properties, such as masses and ages?
Beyond these, I am also broadly interested in the large scale structure of dark matter in our Universe, as well as applying machine learning techniques to astronomy research.
Selected Publications and Awards
• Zhang, Primack, Faber, Koo, et al., “The evolution of galaxy shapes in CANDELS: from prolate to discy”, MNRAS 484,5170 (2019).
• Zhang, Behroozi, Volonteri et al., “TRINITY I: Self-Consistently Modeling the Dark Matter Halo–Galaxy–Supermassive Black Hole Connection from z=0−10”, MNRAS, 518, 2123 (2023)
• Zhang, Behroozi, Volonteri et al., “TRINITY II: The Luminosity-dependent Bias of the Supermassive Black Hole
Mass--Galaxy Mass Relation for Bright Quasars at z=6”, MNRAS, 523, L59 (2023)
• 2023 Theoretical Astrophysics Program (TAP) Graduate Student Research Prize, UArizona
Haowen Zhang
Logan Pearce, Service Award Recipient
I study planets around other stars through the direct imaging technique, where we try to image small faint planets close to very bright stars. I am interested in how planets form and evolve, particularly in the presence of another massive star in the system.
Service Positions and Awards
• Run the local Astronomy on Tap show (called Space Drafts) since 2021, a monthly public astronomy outreach show.
• 2019-2020 served as a consultant for the UA Grad College Application Development Program helping peers prepare compelling NSF GRFP application materials.
• Worked for three summers (2020, 2021, 2022) as a Research Project Leader for Warrior Scholar Project (WSP), which provides academic "boot camps" for veterans and servicemembers considering going to university to help them make the transition from service to academic life.
• 2022-2023 served as a consultant and mentor for the Diana Davis Spencer Scholars program helping WSP alumni get prepared for graduate programs and prepare their application materials.
• 2020-2021 served as liaison for the grad student led Steward DEI task force focused on mentoring.
• 2021 founded the Student Veteran Research Network (SVRN), a peer network of student veterans in grad school or considering grad school.
• 2022 presented SVRN at the National Student Veterans Association Conference (NatCON) in Orlando, FL.
Logan Pearce
Haley Bowden, Teaching Award Recipient
Haley’s research is focused on using machine learning and cosmological simulations to study galaxy evolution and dark matter. Their current research with Dr. Peter Behroozi is focused on galaxies’ host dark matter halos and the role they play in shaping galaxy evolution. They study this connection using neural networks to learn about the invisible underlying dark matter halo properties. They also work with Dr. Tim Eifler on using future galaxy surveys to study cosmology.
Teaching Experience and Awards
• Teaching Assistant for ASTR 400A: Theoretical Astrophysics: Stars (Fall 2023)
