Download a PDF version of my CV here.
EMPLOYMENT
2015- Research Scientist, Jet Propulsion Laboratory
2013-15 Hubble Fellow, Jet Propulsion Laboratory
EDUCATION
2013 Ph.D. in Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
“Atmospheric Photochemistry, Surface Features, and Potential Biosignature Gases of Terrestrial Exoplanets”
2009 M.Sc. in Astrophysics, Tsinghua University
“Evolution of MHD Voids, Formation of Magnetars, and Observations of Geo-magnetospheric Reconnections”
2009 Diplôme d’Ingénieur (French Engineer’s Degree), École Centrale Paris
2007 B.Sc. in Mathematics and Physics, Academic Talent Program, Tsinghua University
SELECTED AWARDS AND HONORS
2023 Scialog Fellow, Research Corporation for Science Advancement
2021 Edward Stone Award for Outstanding Research Publication, Jet Propulsion Laboratory
2020 NASA Early Career Public Achievement Medal
2019 NASA Group Achievement Award for the Astrophysics Large Mission Studies
2017 Voyager Award for Individual Achievement, Jet Propulsion Laboratory
2013-15 NASA Hubble Fellowship
2011-13 NASA Earth and Space Science Fellowship
2012 Barrett Prize, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
2009 Presidential Fellowship, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
2009 Best Master Dissertation, Tsinghua University
2009 Wu You-Xun Prize, Tsinghua University
SPACE MISSION EXPERIENCE
2024- Founder, NASA Study Analysis Group on exoplanet reflection spectroscopy
2023- Member, NASA Science, Technology, Architecture Review Team (START) for the Habitable Worlds Observatory. Co-chair of the "Characterizing Exoplanets" working group
2022- Principal Investigator, JPL Strategic Initiative for scientific optimization of missions
2018- Starshade Scientist, NASA Exoplanet Exploration Program
2022- Co-chair, exoplanet working group of the Uranus flagship mission concept team
2017-21 Atmospheric Science Lead, Starshade Rendezvous Probe concept study and Roman Space Telescope starshade accommodation study
2021-23 Member, Venus in-situ aerobot mission concept team
2018-22 Member, TESS Atmospheric Characterization Working Group
2016-21 Member, WFIRST (Roman) Coronagraph Science Investigation Teams
2016-17 Member, NASA Study Analysis Group on Science Questions for Direct Imaging Exoplanet Missions
2016-17 Member, NASA Study Analysis Group on Exoplanet Biosignatures
2014 Principal Investigator for science return of direct-imaging exoplanet missions, NASA Exoplanet Exploration Program
POSTDOC ADVISING EXPERIENCE
2023- Armen Tokadjian, JPL Postdoc Fellow
2022- Apurva V. Oza, JPL Postdoc Fellow (co-advise with Rosaly Lopes)
2022- Jeehyun Yang, JPL Postdoc Fellow (co-advise with Murthy Gudipati)
2022- Aaron Bello-Arufe, JPL Postdoc Fellow
2021-23 Markus Scheucher, JPL Postdoc Fellow (now JPL employee)
Research led to development of a novel radiative-convective climate model
2018-22 Mario Damiano, JPL Postdoc Fellow (now JPL employee)
Research led to 5 first-author papers and multiple JWST proposal wins
GRADUATE STUDENT ADVISING EXPERIENCE
2022- Kimberly Paragas (Caltech, co-advise with Heather Knutson)
Research led to a paper in prep
2021-23 Danica Adams (Caltech, co-advise with Yuk Yung). Now postdoc at Harvard
Research led to two papers in Astrobiology
2020-21 Eva L. Scheller (Caltech, co-advise with Bethany Ehlmann). Now postdoc at MIT
Research led to a paper in Science
2015 Peter Gao (Caltech, co-advise with Yuk Yung). Now staff scientist at the Carnegie Institution for Science
Research led to a paper in ApJ
UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT ADVISING EXPERIENCE
2023 Aidan Robinson (UCLA)
2023 Zachary Burr (Delft University of Technology)
Research led to a paper in prep
2022-23 Audrey DeVault (Caltech). Now graduate student at MIT
Research led to a paper in prep
2022 Naylynn Tañón Reyes (Smith College)
2020-21 Lexy LeMar (Caltech). Now graduate student at MIT
2018-23 Trent Thomas (UCLA). Now graduate student at U. Washington
Research led to two papers in Nature Geosciences and PSJ
2018-19 Héctor Delgado (Cal State LA). Now graduate student at U. Washington
Research led to a paper in ApJ
2018 Luke Peterson (Northwestern University). Now graduate student at CU Boulder
Research led to a paper in ApJ
2017-18 Tre’Shunda James (Occidental College). Now graduate student at UT Arlington
Research led to a paper in ApJ
2017 Isabel Angelo (UC Berkeley). Now graduate student at UCLA
Research led to a paper in AJ
2017 George Filippatos (Penn State). Now graduate student at Colorado School of Mines
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
2015 Co-Instructor, California Institute of Technology, Class Ge 194: Isotopic Tracers of Mars Atmosphere-Surface Interactions
2015 Guest Lecturer, California Institute of Technology, Class Ge 159: Planetary Evolution and Habitability
2014 Professional Development Program, Institute for Scientist and Engineer Educators, University of California, Santa Cruz
2012 Teaching Certificate Program, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
2010 Teaching Assistant, Tsinghua University, Class: Quantum Mechanics
SERVICES
2023 External Reviewer, James Webb Space Telescope Time Allocation Committee
2022 Chair, Astrophysics Return to Lab Working Group, Jet Propulsion Laboratory
2021- Chair, Astrophysics Colloquium Committee, Jet Propulsion Laboratory
2020 Panel Reviewer, Hubble Space Telescope Time Allocation Committee
2016- Founder, Exoplanet Lunch Seminar Series, Jet Propulsion Laboratory
2013- Referee for Science, Nature, Nature Geoscience, Nature Astronomy, PNAS, ApJ, ApJS, MNRAS, A&A, Astrobiology, Icarus, EPSL, JGR, and GRL
2012- Panel Reviewer for NASA’s Planetary Atmospheres Program, Mars Data Analysis Program, Mars2020 Participating Scientists Program, Exoplanets Research Program, Exobiology Program, Astrophysics Research and Analysis Program, and Earth and Space Science Fellowship
2018 Panel Reviewer, Hubble Space Telescope Time Allocation Committee
2018 Member, Organizing Committee of the workshop “Combining high-resolution spectroscopy and high-contrast imaging for exoplanet characterization”
2018 Member, Selection Committee of NASA Hubble Postdoctoral Fellowship
2017 Member, Selection Committee of NSF Astronomy and Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellowship
2015 Panel Reviewer, Hubble Space Telescope Time Allocation Committee
EXTERNALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH PROJECTS
Awarded $3.6M since 2015, in which $2.6M as PI or Co-PI
Only listing the PI and Co-PI programs
Probing the volcanic outgassing activity of a warm sub-Earth planet
Principal Investigator: Mario Damiano (Renyu Hu is Co-PI)
Program: James Webb Space Telescope Cycle 2 Guest Observers
Funding Period: 2023-2025
Total Funding: $230K
Deep Characterization of the Atmosphere of a Temperate Sub-Neptune
Principal Investigator: Renyu Hu
Program: James Webb Space Telescope Cycle 1 Guest Observers
Funding Period: 2022-2025
Total Funding: $390K
Determining the Atmospheric Composition of the Super-Earth 55 Cancri e
Principal Investigator: Renyu Hu
Program: James Webb Space Telescope Cycle 1 Guest Observers
Funding Period: 2022-2024
Total Funding: $240K
Exploring the nature of a temperate exoplanet in the Fulton gap
Principal Investigator: Mario Damiano (Renyu Hu is Co-PI)
Program: James Webb Space Telescope Cycle 1 Guest Observers
Funding Period: 2022-2024
Total Funding: $230K
A Search for Signatures of Volcanism and Geodynamics on the Hot Rocky Exoplanet LHS 3844b
Principal Investigator: Laura Kreidberg (Renyu Hu is Co-PI)
Program: James Webb Space Telescope Cycle 1 Guest Observers
Funding Period: 2022-2024
Total Funding: $180K
Thermal Structure, Chemistry, and Observational Signatures of Cold Exoplanet Atmospheres
Principal Investigator: Renyu Hu
Program: NASA Exoplanets Research Program
Funding Period: 2018-2022
Total Funding: $460K
Constraining Early Mars’s Atmosphere and Habitability with Isotopic Measurements
Principal Investigator: Renyu Hu
Program: NASA Habitable Worlds
Funding Period: 2017-2022
Total Funding: $810K
First Transmission Spectrum of a Cold, Water-Cloud Gas Giant Planet
Principal Investigator: Renyu Hu
Program: Hubble Space Telescope Cycle 24 Guest Observers
Funding Period: 2017-2020
Total Funding: $70K
Chemical Fingerprints of Alien Worlds – Towards an Evolutionary View of Mars and Terrestrial Exoplanet Atmospheres
Principal Investigator: Wesley A. Traub (Renyu Hu is Science-PI)
Program: NASA Hubble Postdoctoral Fellowship
Funding Period: 2013 to 2015
Total Funding: $320K
Photochemistry of Super Earth Exoplanet Atmospheres
Principal Investigator: Sara Seager (Renyu Hu is Science-PI)
Program: NASA Earth and Space Science Fellowship
Funding Period: 2011 to 2013
Total Funding: $60K
COMPETITIVE OBSERVATION PROGRAMS
JWST: 5 programs (123 hours) as PI and Co-PI, 7 programs (230 hours) as Co-I
HST: 1 program (6 orbits) as PI, 3 programs (241 orbits) as Co-I
Spitzer: 2 programs (175.9 hours) as Co-I
TESS: 1 program as Co-I
INVITED TALKS
Seminars and Colloquia
2024 University of California, Riverside, CA, Astrobiology Seminar
2023 Tokyo Institute of Technology, Earth-Life Science Institute Seminar
2023 University of California, Los Angeles, CA, Planetary Science Seminar
2023 California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, DIX Planetary Science Seminar
2021 The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, Lunar and Planetary Laboratory Colloquium
2021 NASA Nexus for Exoplanet System Science, CLEVER Planets Seminar
2021 Institute of Planetary Research, German Aerospace Center, Berlin, Germany, Seminar
2021 Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, Astrophysics Seminar
2021 National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, Tokyo, Japan, Seminar
2019 California State University, Los Angeles, CA, Physics and Astronomy Seminar
2019 Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, Heidelberg, Germany, Origins of Life Seminar
2019 Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, Department Seminar
2018 University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland, Seminar
2018 University of California, Los Angeles, CA, Planetary Science Seminar
2018 University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, Astronomy Seminar
2017 CNRS Orléans, Orléans, France, Space Science Seminar
2017 Caltech, Pasadena, CA, Geological and Planetary Sciences Seminar
2017 Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan, Astronomy Colloquium
2016 California State University, Northridge, CA, Physics and Astronomy Seminar
2016 ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland, Astrophysics Seminar
2016 University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland, Space Research Seminar
2016 Geneva Observatory, Geneva, Switzerland, Seminar
2016 Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, Astrobiology Seminar
2014 Caltech, Pasadena, CA, Kliegel Lectures in Planetary Sciences
2014 University of California, Los Angeles, CA, Planetary Seminar
2013 University of California, Los Angeles, CA, iPLEX Lunch Seminar
2013 California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, Yuk Lunch Seminar
2012 Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, MA, SSP Seminar
2012 Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, NJ, Seminar
Invited Conference Talks
2024 Lorentz Center Workshop on Neutral and Ion Photochemistry in Planetary Atmospheres, Leiden, Netherlands
2024 ISSI Workshop on the Geoscience of (Exo)planets: Going beyond habitability, Bern, Switzerland
2024 “Density Matters” Ringberg Castle Workshop, Bavaria, Germany
2023 Scialog Conference on Signatures of Life in the University, Tuscon, AZ
2022 Exoplanets in Our Backyard 2, Albuquerque, NM
2022 Chianti International Workshop on Atmospheres, Florence, Italy
2021 The Mars panel of the planetary science and astrobiology decadal survey
2019 The 234th Meeting of the American Astronomical Society, St Louis, MO
2019 The EGU General Assembly, Vienna, Austria
2018 Defining the Landscape for Precision Radial Velocity (PRV) Science in the 2018-2028 Time Frame, Pasadena, CA
2018 Technology for Direct Detection and Characterization of Exoplanets, Pasadena, CA
2017 Asia Oceania Geosciences Society 14th Annual Meeting, Singapore
2016 NASA Starshade Technology Workshop, Pasadena, CA
2016 Community Astrophysics with WFIRST, Guest Observer and Archival Science, Pasadena, CA
2016 The 227th Meeting of the American Astronomical Society, Kissimmee, FL
2015 Exoplanetary Atmospheres and Habitability, Nice, France
2015 IAU XXIX General Assembly, Honolulu, HI
2015 Planetary Systems: a Synergistic View, Quy Nhon, Vietnam
2015 Physics of Exoplanets: From Earth-sized to Mini Neptunes, Santa Barbara, CA
MEDIA REPORTS AND PUBLIC OUTREACH
2022 JWST Science Feature Volcanic Worlds, by STScI
2021 How to Find Hidden Oceans on Distant Worlds? Use Chemistry, by NASA
2021 Where are the water worlds? New tool to find out, by EarthSky
2021 The Water on Mars Vanished – This Might Be Where It Went, by NY Times, National Geographic, and multiple news outlets
2019 A Rare Look at the Surface of a Rocky Exoplanet, by NASA
2018 Science advisor for “Signs of Life”, a planetarium show at the Griffith Observatory, Los Angeles
2017 Lava or Not, Exoplanet 55 Cancri e Likely to Have Atmosphere, by National Geographic
2017 Our Living Planet Shapes the Search for Life Beyond Earth, by NASA
2017 Panel Discussion on “Arrival” at the Los Angeles Public Library
2017 Signs of Alien Air Herald a New Era of Exoplanet Discoveries, by Scientific American
2016 Testing for Methane on Mars, by Airspacemag.com
2015 Mystery on Mars: Does Methane Really Indicate Life? by Space.com
2015 Mars’ Ancient Atmosphere Wasn’t Very Thick After All, by Discovery Channel
2015 Helium-Filled Exoplanets Likely Float Throughout the Galaxy, by Discovery, Space.com, and Sciencenews.org
2013 Investigating Exoplanet Surfaces, by Astrobiology Magazine, Phys.org, and SciTech Daily
2012 Mars Snowflakes Are as Tiny as Red Blood Cells, by CBS, Nature, Discovery, National Geographic, Reuters, Daily Mail, and Space.com
2011 How Astronomers May Hunt for Life on Alien Planets, by Astrobiology Magazine, New Scientist, Space.com, and The Daily Galaxy
LANGUAGE SKILLS
Chinese High Proficiency
French Diplôme Supérieur Langue et Culture Françaises, corresponding to CEFR Level C1
German Basic, 200 hours of study