Dr. Feng Long
KIAA welcomes Dr. Feng Long as our newest faculty member. Dr. Long is a leading young researcher in the field of protoplanetary disks and the observational aspect of planet formation.
Dr. Long obtained her PhD in 2019 at Peking University under the supervision of Prof. Gregory Herczeg. She then joined the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian as an SMA Postdoc Fellow from 2019 to 2022. In September 2022, she received the prestigious NASA Hubble Fellowship Program Sagan Fellow and started working at the Lunar and Planetary Lab of the University of Arizona.
Protoplanetary disks are the birthplace of planetary systems. Her research focuses on the formation and evolution of protoplanetary disks, employing the cutting-edge facilities ALMA and JWST to understand the planet assembly process and the origin of the vast diversity of planetary system architectures. Using ALMA, her work revealed that gaps and rings are common features in disks and provided clear evidence of planet-disk interaction in specific cases. With the advent of JWST, she has focused on the chemical evolution of inner disks, showing that disks around very-low mass stars can sustain carbon-rich chemistry for tens of Myrs.
Dr. Long’s return to PKU will enhance the strength of PKU astronomy in the field of exoplanet and planet formation. With rich experience and deep expertise, she will also provide valuable guidance to our students.
