TAP Presents the 2025 Graduate Student Research Prize

On March 3, 2025, Eonho Chang, Graduate Student at the University of Arizona, was presented the Theoretical Astrophysics Program (TAP) 2025 Graduate Student Research Prize plaque, and $1,000, awarded for his outstanding research paper, “Halfway to Rayleigh” and Other Insights into the Rossby Wave Instability.”. Eonho presented the research at the TAP Colloquium on that same day.

Eonho is a fifth year PhD student in Applied Mathematics working with Prof. Andrew Youdin. His research focuses on hydrodynamic instabilities in protoplanetary disks. In particular, he investigates the role of the Rossby Wave Instability in disk evolution and planet formation through theoretical models and numerical simulations. He is also interested in applying advanced mathematical techniques to these problems and has worked with machine-learning methods in dust-gas dynamics. He completed his Bachelor’s in Astrophysics and Master’s in Scientific Computing and Applied Mathematics at UC Santa Cruz.