We are data-driven observational astronomers. We use the world's most powerful telescopes—ALMA & JWST—to directly witness how the ingredients for life are assembled in planet-forming disks.
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How are habitable worlds built? We investigate the critical first few million years of planetary formation. By tracing chemical fingerprints in young protoplanetary disks, we map the origins of the planets—and the life—we observe today.
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2026/10 — Our NASA Exoplanets Research Program (XRP) proposal "Dynamic Disks and Evolving Chemistry: Tracing the Origins of Planetary Volatile Composition" has been funded! (PI. Zhang, 2026–2029)
2026/09 — Welcome to our new WiCOR postdoctoral fellow Eric Van Clepper to join our group!
2026/08 — Two ALMA Cycle 13 proposals led by Prof. Zhang have been approved! "How Much Gas Survives? Probing the Final Reservoir in 6–8 Myr Protoplanetary Disks" (B grade, 31.5h) and "The First Millimeter Census of Disks around Stars below 0.1 M⊙ at 5–15 Myr" (C grade, 26.7h).
2026/06 — Prof. Ke Zhang has been promoted to Associate Professor with tenure!
2026/06 — Congratulations to undergraduate Carl Yao for publishing his first-author paper "Molecular Similarity and Water Diversity in Coeval Binary Disks: JWST/MIRI Observations of Sz 65 and Sz 66" in ApJ!
2026/06 — Congratulations to our former undergraduate Ella Chevalier (now a PhD student at UC Berkeley) for publishing her first-author paper "The ALMA Survey of Gas Evolution of PROtoplanetary Disks (AGE-PRO): Formaldehyde (H2CO) Emission and Its Links to Disk Properties", based on her work in our group!
2026/03 — Our JWST GO5 proposal "Integrating Pebble Drift with Disk Chemistry: A New Framework for Interpreting MIRI Water Lines" has been accepted! (PI. Calahan, co-PI. Zhang)
2026/03 — Congratulations to Abby Waggoner for being awarded the prestigious NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship!
2026/01 — Congratulations to graduate student Tayt Armitage for publishing his first-author paper "Tracing Pebble Drift History in Two Protoplanetary Disks with CO Enhancement"!