My research topics focus on the exploration of planets inside and outside of our solar system. I have been involved in NASA’s Cassini Mission to Saturn and I am the co-I of the Juno Mission to Jupiter. I use numerical models, ground-based telescopes, and data collected from space missions to further our understanding of the physical properties of planets. Specifically, I’m interested in fluid motions, including the atmosphere, ocean, and convection powered by the internal heat of a planet. Planets provide unique natural laboratories that are unattainable on Earth. By studying the planets, we learn the fundamental physics, the past, and the future of the home we live on.
California Institute of Technology, 2011 – 2017
Ph.D., Geological and Planetary Science
minor in Environmental Science and Engineering
Peking University, 2007 – 2011
B.Sc., School of Physics
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 2021 - current
Assistant professor
University of California, Berkeley, 2019 – 2020
51 peg b fellow
California Institute of Technology, 2017 – 2019
Postdoc scholar, Juno team member
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 2016 – 2017
NASA postdoc program fellow
2455 Hayward Street
Ann, Arbor, M 48109
Email: chengcli [at] umich [dot] edu