Muni Zhou （周慕霓）, Plasma Physicist

since 2022

Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, USA
Frequent visitor at Center for Computational Astrophysics, Simons Foundation

I use a combination of analytical calculations and numerical tools to investigate the role of multi-scale plasma processes in a wide range of space and astrophysical systems, most of which are in a turbulent state. My expertise lies in non-ideal Magnetohydrodynamics (MHD), gyro-kinetic (GK), and fully kinetic descriptions of plasma. One of my current research projects focuses on uncovering the origin of cosmic magnetic fields, with the novelty of integrating non-equilibrium microphysics of plasmas into macroscopic astrophysical processes. I also work on understanding the spectra and particle heating of kinetic turbulence (e.g., in the solar wind) by exploring its phase-space dynamics.

Computing: Supervising large-scale computer simulations, with allocations on Frontera (TACC), Stampede (TACC), Pleiades (NASA), and NERSC resources. Participation in the 2023 Nvidia/OpenACC Open Hackathon at Princeton University, developing GPU-accelerated simulations of magnetic turbulence.

Community: Peer reviewer for the Journal of Plasma Physics, and Physics of Plasmas. Organizing committee of a PCTS/PGI workshop on transport in magnetized turbulence: from the laboratory to astrophysics. Mentoring graduate students and co-advising graduate research projects.

2022 – 2023

Princeton University (joint appointment), Princeton, USA

Community: Organizing committee of a PCTS/PGI workshop on improving black hole accretion models with plasma theory. Mentoring undergraduate and graduate students, co-advising undergraduate and graduate research projects. Serving on the nomination committee in the Group on Plasma Astrophysics (GPAP) of the American Physical Society (APS).

2016 – 2022

Plasma Science and Fusion Center, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA

Research Assistant (Plasma Theory and Computation); Supervisor: Nuno F. Loureiro

Summers 2018, 2019

Center for Integrated Plasma Studies, University of Colorado Boulder, CO, USA

Research Assistant (Plasma Astrophysics); Supervisor: Dmitri Uzdensky

2016 – 2022

Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
Ph.D, Plasma Physics & Nuclear Science and Engineering

Thesis advised by Nuno F. Loureiro: Genesis, dynamics, and dissipation of turbulent magnetic fields.

2012 – 2016

Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
B.Sc., Physics (honors)

Thesis advised by Roscoe B. White: Collisional dependence of Alfvén mode saturation in tokamaks. Undergraduate research experience at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL).

2022 – 2024

Presidential Postdoctoral Fellows award at Princeton University.

2020 – 2022

Future Investigators in NASA Earth and Space Science and Technology (FINESST) grant.

2019

Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award (exceptional contributions as a teaching assistant in Nuclear Science & Engineering), Massachusetts Institute of Technology

2018

Graduate Student Poster Prize at the NSE Graduate Research Expo, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

2016

Outstanding Bachelor’s Thesis Award, Zhejiang University

June 2023

NSF/GPAP Summer School in the Swarthmore College, USA
Lecturer on fundamentals of plasmas and linear theory of MHD waves

2022

Feature in Research News of the National Science Foundation (NSF)
Turbulent plasma reveals the origins of ubiquitous magnetic fields

2022

Interview for MIT News
How the universe got its magnetic field

2020

Interview for MIT News
How to grow a cosmic magnetic field

2018

Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA
Graduate Teaching Assistant for 22.15 – Essential Numerical Methods (recitations, office hour, design and grading of assignments)

2018 – 2022

Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA
Leading public lab tours of the Alcator C-Mod tokamak, poster presentations at the MIT Museum and experimental demonstrations to attendees at APS-DPP.

Dec 2023

Texas Symposium on Relativistic Astrophysics, Shanghai, China, invited talk
Magnetogenesis in a collisionless plasma: from Weibel instability to turbulent dynamo

Sep 2023

Modeling Plasmas Around Black Holes Workshop, Leiden, Netherlands, invited talk
Electron heating in kinetic turbulence

July 2023

Plasma Astrophysics Seminar, Princeton University, Princeton, USA, invited talk
Generation and amplification of turbulent magnetic fields

June 2023

Aspen Center for Physics, CO, USA, invited talk
Tutorial seminar at the workshop New Opportunities in High Energy Physics: Turbulence and magnetic reconnection in MHD

Feb 2023

Workshop at Princeton Gravity Initiative (PGI) and Princeton Center for Theoretical Science (PCTS), Princeton, USA, invited talk
Introduction of plasma physics at black-hole accretion disks

Jan 2023

CCA-Princeton Heliophysics workshop, Flatiron Institute, New York, USA, invited talk
Intermittency and electron heating in kinetic-Alfvén-wave turbulence

Dec 2022

Heliophysics Seminars at Princeton Plasma Physics Lab, Princeton, USA, invited talk
Intermittency and electron heating in kinetic-Alfvén-wave turbulence

Dec 2022

Meeting of the American Geophysical Union, Chicago, USA, invited talk
Intermittency and electron heating in kinetic-Alfvén-wave turbulence

Oct 2022

64th Annual Meeting of the APS Division of Plasma Physics, Spokane, USA, contributed talk
Intermittency and electron heating in kinetic-Alfvén-wave turbulence

July 2022

Solar Heliospheric and Interplanetary Environment (SHINE) meeting, Hawaii, USA, contributed talk
Intermittency and electron heating in kinetic-Alfvén-wave turbulence

May 2022

European Geophysical Union Meeting, Vienna, Austria, invited talk
Spectrum of Kinetic-Alfvén-wave turbulence: intermittency or tearing mediation?

May 2022

Magnetic Reconnection workshop, Monterey, USA, invited talk
Role of magnetic reconnection in kinetic-Alfvén-wave turbulence

Nov 2021

63th Annual Meeting of the APS Division of Plasma Physics, Pittsburgh, USA, contributed talk
Spontaneous magnetization of collisionless plasmas through the action of a shear flow

July 2021

Journal of Plasma Physics Frontiers of Plasma Physics Colloquium, invited talk
From the Weibel instability to flux-tube coalescence – a pathway to seeding plasma dynamos

May 2021

NASA’s SolFER Spring 2021 Meeting on Solar Flare Energy Release, invited talk
From the Weibel instability to flux-tube coalescence – a pathway to seeding plasma dynamos

Mar 2021

Astrophysics seminar at Flatiron Institute, New York, USA, invited talk
From Weibel instability to fluctuation dynamo in collisionless plasma simulations

Jan 2021

Plasma physics seminar at University of Maryland, USA, invited talk
Weibel seeding of kinetic small-scale dynamo

Oct 2020

APS Division of Plasma Physics Annual Meeting, USA, invited talk
Multi-scale dynamics of magnetic flux tubes and inverse magnetic energy transfer via reconnection

Nov 2019

Institute for Fusion Theory and Simulation, Zhejiang University, China, invited talk
Magnetic field generation and amplification in collisionless plasmas

Nov 2019

3rd Asia-Pacific Conference on Plasma Physics, Hefei, China, invited talk
Inverse magnetic energy transfer through magnetic reconnection

Aug 2019

12th Plasma Kinetics Working Meeting, Vienna, Austria, invited talk
Multi-scale dynamics of magnetic flux tubes (student talk award)

Nov 2018

61th Annual Meeting of the APS Division of Plasma Physics, Fort Lauderdale, USA, contributed talk
Inverse cascade of magnetic energy through reconnection in turbulent plasmas

Sep 2018

US-Japan Magnetic Reconnection Meeting, Princeton, USA, contributed talk
Magnetic island merger as a mechanism for inverse magnetic energy transfer

Aug 2018

Center for Integrated Plasma Studies, University of Colorado–Boulder, USA, invited talk
Inverse cascade of magnetic energy through reconnection in turbulent plasmas