UNT Physics graduate student Trung Ha has been selected by The Simons Foundation to participate in the 2023 Flatiron Institute Center for Computational Astrophysics (CCA) Pre-Doctoral Program. This prestigious program provides graduate students from institutions worldwide the opportunity to work on research projects with CCA staff mentors and expand their collaborative networks.

"I was extremely happy and surprised to be selected," said Trung. "I knew that the program was very competitive and popular in the computational astrophysics community, so I was more hoping than expecting to receive the acceptance."

The Center for Computational Astrophysics at the Flatiron Institute is a vibrant research center in the heart of New York City. Since its launch in 2016, the center's mission has been to create new computational frameworks that allow scientists to analyze big astronomical datasets and understand complex, multi-scale physics in a cosmological context.

"The history of the CCA is short, but its impact is already huge in the field of astrophysics," said UNT Physics professor Dr. Yuan Li, Trung's PhD advisor. "I personally know some of the pre-doctoral fellows from previous years who have graduated and are now holding the most prestigious fellowships in astronomy."

Trung recently completed his third year of graduate study and proposed his PhD thesis project just last month. He will spend five months at the CCA working closely with a team of experts in plasma astrophysics using machine learning techniques to automatically identify and segment turbulent structures in computer simulations of black hole accretion.

"In my five months there, I hope to develop a robust model and validate my results with a suite of available simulations," he said. "I plan to write up a paper to report my findings after I have completed the program."

Trung, who received an Associate of Science degree from Central Arizona College and a Bachelor of Science degree from University of Rochester before coming to UNT to pursue his PhD, said he looks forward to living in New York City for the semester. He also hopes to facilitate long-term connections with his advisors at the CCA so he might collaborate with them in future projects.

"I am excited for the opportunity to work at a large and well-known research institute, and to pursue a line of research that I have not worked on before," he said. "Many experts in my field work at the CCA, or regularly make trips to visit and collaborate with scientists there, so I look forward to meeting and learning from them."

"This is an amazing research and networking opportunity for Trung," said Dr. Li. "I am sure that he will represent UNT very positively when he is there in the fall and make all of us proud."

Trung will return to UNT in January to continue his Ph.D. thesis.

"During my three years here, UNT has directly supported me through scholarships and travel grants, which have allowed me to afford the cost of living, focus on my research, and travel to conferences to present my research," he said. "I would like to especially thank my Ph.D. advisor, Dr. Yuan Li, who encouraged me to apply to this program. Without her mentoring and support, I would not have been able to participate in this program. I also thank Dr. Ohad Shemmer, who I have also worked with extensively. Their letters of recommendation for my application were certainly a big factor in my acceptance to this program."

The CCA is funded by the Simons Foundation, and its mission is to create new computational frameworks to enable scientists to analyze large astronomical datasets and investigate forefront problems in astrophysics. Learn more at: https://www.simonsfoundation.org/flatiron/center-for-computational-astro...