Chen, Howard
Howard Chen
Assistant Professor | COES: Department of Aerospace, Physics and Space Sciences
Contact Information
Expertise
Personal Overview
Howard Chen is an Assistant Professor of Space Sciences at Florida Institute of Technology. Thematically, his research centers on cornerstone questions such as "where we do come from" and "who else is out there?"
The majority of his research focuses on computer simulations of exoplanet atmospheres, with an emphasis on atmospheric evolution, dynamics, and chemistry. He employs a wide range of analytical and numerical models to investigate processes such as volatile accretion, hydrodynamic escape, and global climate–chemistry coupling. These approaches have been applied to study early Earth, Earth-like planets in the habitable zone, and sub-Neptune–sized exoplanets orbiting other stars.
His work has yielded several influential predictions. He correctly anticipated the existence of the “radius valley” in the Kepler planet population, and has proposed additional hypotheses currently awaiting observational verification, ncluding a divergent climate pathway for outer-edge habitable zone planets in compact multiplanet systems, the origin of superchondritic carbon-to-nitrogen ratios in bulk silicate Earth, the presence of a strong water vapor moist-greenhouse spectral signature on tidally locked exoplanets around M-dwarfs, and the potential prevalence of “habitable evaporated cores” in planetary systems near the Galactic center.
Educational Background
PhD in Earth and Planetary Sciences, Northwestern University, 2022
M.S., Earth and Planetary Sciences, Northwestern University, 2018
B.A in Physics, Boston University (2012-2016)
Professional Experience
NASA Postdoctoral Program Fellow at Goddard Space Flight Center (2022-2023)
Future Investigator in NASA Earth, Space Sciences, and Technology (2018-2021)
Selected Publications
Chen, H. and Jacobson, S.A., 2022. Impact induced atmosphere-mantle exchange sets the volatile elemental ratios on primitive Earths. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 594, p.117741.
Chen, H., 2021. Lithopanspermia at the Center of Spiral Galaxies. Planet Formation and Panspermia: New Prospects for the Movement of Life through Space, pp.149-170.
Fauchez, T.J., Turbet, M., Sergeev, D.E., Mayne, N.J., Spiga, A., Sohl, L., Saxena, P., Deitrick, R., Gilli, G., Domagal-Goldman, S.D. and Forget, F., 2021. TRAPPIST Habitable Atmosphere Intercomparison (THAI) workshop report. The Planetary Science Journal, 2(3), p.106.
Chen, H., Zhan, Z., Youngblood, A., Wolf, E.T., Feinstein, A.D. and Horton, D.E., 2021. Persistence of flare-driven atmospheric chemistry on rocky habitable zone worlds. Nature Astronomy, 5(3), pp.298-310.
Chen, H., Wolf, E.T., Zhan, Z. and Horton, D.E., 2019. Habitability and spectroscopic observability of warm M-dwarf exoplanets evaluated with a 3D chemistry-climate model. The Astrophysical Journal, 886(1), p.16.
Chen, H., Wolf, E.T., Kopparapu, R., Domagal-Goldman, S. and Horton, D.E., 2018. Biosignature anisotropy modeled on temperate tidally locked M-dwarf planets. The Astrophysical Journal Letters, 868(1), p.L6.
Chen, H., Forbes, J.C. and Loeb, A., 2018. Habitable evaporated cores and the occurrence of panspermia near the Galactic center. The Astrophysical Journal Letters, 855(1), p.L1.
Chen, H. and Rogers, L.A., 2016. Evolutionary analysis of gaseous sub-Neptune-mass planets with MESA. The Astrophysical Journal, 831(2), p.180.
Recognition & Awards
Selected as one of 25 Rising Stars in Astronomy by the Astronomy Magazine
Recipient of 2021 NASA Postdoctoral Program Fellowship
Recipient of 2020 Horace A. Scott NU EPS Award for Excellence in Graduate Research
Recipient of 2019 American Geophysical Union (AGU) Outstanding Student Presentation Award
Recipient of 2019 Future Investigators in NASA Earth and Space Science and Technology (FINESST) Award
Recipient of 2014 Caltech Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF)
Recipient of 2015 Boston University Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) Grant
Recipient of 2013 Boston University Student Academic Enhancement Fund Travel Award
Research
Predicting exoplanet habitability and detectability for future instruments
Developing numerical models of early Earth and Earth-like planets
Retrieving observational and remotely sensed data using novel analysis techniques