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Employment
2026- Postdoctoral research fellow in theoretical astrophysics
National Center for Theoretical Sciences (Physics Division), National Taiwan University, Taipei, TW
Research group: Theoretical and Computational Astrophysics (TCA) Thematic Group (TG2.3)
Online profiles: NCTS, NTNU, ASIAA
Research expertise: Star formation and stellar feedback, molecular clouds, interstellar medium, computational hydrodynamics
Mentors: Prof. Yueh-Ning Lee, Dr. Min-Kai Lin
Education
2021-2025 PhD in computational astrophysics
School of Physics and Astronomy, University of St Andrews, Scotland, UK
Supervisor: Prof. Ian A. Bonnell
Thesis title: The Shocking Stars - Numerical modelling of stellar feedback in Giant Molecular Clouds
Publicly available at the St Andrews thesis repository
Examiners: Prof. Matthew Bate (external), Prof. Moira Jardine (internal)
2018-2020 MSc by Research in astrophysics
Department of Physics, University of York, England, UK
Supervisor: Dr. Emily Brunsden
Thesis title: Stellar rotation formalisms of γ Doradus stars from gravity-mode period spacings
Publicly available at the White Rose thesis repository
Examiners: Prof. Catherine Lovekin (external), Prof. Phil Lightfoot (internal)
2015-2018 BSc in physics with astrophysics
Department of Physics, University of York, England, UK
Supervisors: Dr. Chris Murphy (academic), Dr. Emily Brunsden (FYP)
First-class honours with Distinction (85%)
Dissertation title: Estimating distances to type I Cepheid variables using the Period-Luminosity relation with visual photometry
Publications
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9292-5996
- Lau, C. S. C., Bonnell, I. A., Lee, Y.-N. & Chen, K.-J. 2026, “Supernova feedback in porous photoionized Giant Molecular Clouds”, submitted to MNRAS, https://arxiv.org/abs/2608.00719
- Lau, C. S. C. & Bonnell, I. A. 2025, “Semi-confined supernova feedback in HII region bubbles”, MNRAS, 540, 1124–1143, https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/staf756
- Lau, C. S. C., Petkova, M. A. & Bonnell, I. A. 2025, “Hybrid radiation hydrodynamics scheme with adaptive gravity-tree-based pseudo-particles”, MNRAS, 538, 1461–1480, https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/staf366
- Dudson, B. D., Allen, J., Body, T., Chapman, B., Lau, C., Townley, L., Moulton, D., Harrison, J. & Lipschultz, B. 2019, “The role of particle, energy and momentum losses in 1-D simulations of divertor detachment”, Plasma Phys. Control. Fusion, 61, 6, https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6587/ab1321
Grants & Awards
| 2024 | SPHERIC 2024 (Berlin) 2nd-place Libersky Prize for SPH development |
| 2021 | UKRI STFC training grant PhD full scholarship |
| 2019 | University of York Departmental scholarship for MSc studies |
| 2018 | University of York 1st-place Goodwin Prize for best final-year project |
Invited colloquiums, seminars & visits
| 2027 Jan | Tohoku University Astronomical Institute visit, Sendai [Upcoming] |
| 2027 Jan | University of Tokyo Research Center for the Early Universe visit, Tokyo [Upcoming] |
| 2027 Jan | National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ) visit, Tokyo [Upcoming] |
| 2026 Oct | Academia Sinica Institute of Physics (ASIoP) seminar, Taipei |
| 2026 Oct | National Central University (NCU) Institute of Astronomy colloquium, Taoyuan |
| 2026 Sep | Institute of Science Tokyo Okuzumi Lab seminar, Tokyo |
| 2026 June | University of Exeter Department of Physics and Astronomy seminar, Exeter |
| 2026 Mar | Academia Sinica Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics (ASIAA) lunch talk, Taipei |
| 2026 Mar | National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) Department of Earth Sciences colloquium, Taipei |
| 2024 June | University of Cologne Theoretical Astrophysics group (TAC) seminar, Cologne |
Conference talks
| 2026 May | Olympian Symposium 2026 - The Evolution of Interstellar Medium across Cosmic Times, Katerini (Contributed poster) |
| 2026 Mar | NCTS Theoretical Astrophysics in Taiwan workshop 2026, Taipei (Invited) |
| 2025 June | 19th SPHERIC conference 2025, Barcelona (Contributed) |
| 2025 June | 7th Phantom workshop 2025, Grenoble (Invited) |
| 2025 May | Bally Fest - Star Formation, Stellar Feedback, and the Ecology of Galaxies, Budapest (Contributed) |
| 2024 Sep | UK galactic star formation, Armagh (Contributed) |
| 2024 Sep | German Astronomical Society meeting 2024, Cologne (Contributed x2) |
| 2024 June | 18th SPHERIC conference 2024, Berlin (Contributed) |
| 2024 Feb | ECOGAL winter school - The physics of star formation, Les Houches (Contributed) |
| 2023 Mar | 4th Phantom workshop 2023, Online (Contributed) |
| 2019 July | Royal Astronomical Society National Astronomy Meeting (NAM) 2019, Lancaster (Contributed poster) |
Teaching
At NCTS Taiwan
I supervised the following summer project student:
| 2026 Summer | Prayash Borthakur |
At University of St Andrews
I worked as a Graduate Teaching Assistant for the following undergraduate courses:
| 2025 Spring | 3rd-year Computational astrophysics (lab demonstrator) |
| 2024 Winter | 1st-year Astronomy and Astrophysics (tutor) |
| 2024 Spring | 3rd-year Computational astrophysics (lab demonstrator) |
| 2023 Winter | 1st-year Astronomy and Astrophysics (tutor) |
| 2023 Spring | 3rd-year Computational astrophysics (lab demonstrator) |
| 2022 Winter | 1st-year Astronomy and Astrophysics (lab demonstrator) |
| 2022 Spring | 2nd-year Astronomy and Astrophysics (lab demonstrator) |
| 2021 Winter | 1st-year Astronomy and Astrophysics (lab demonstrator) |
I co-supervised the following MSc/BSc project students with Prof. Ian Bonnell:
| 2024 Spring | Pavani Kumar |
| 2024 Spring | Jesus Miguel Yulo Asuncion |
| 2024 Spring | Daniel Maske |
| 2023 Spring | Florence Harper (now as Robin Harper) |
At University of York
I worked as a Graduate Teaching Assistant for the following undergraduate courses:
| 2020 Spring | 2nd-year Mathematics (problem class tutor) |
| 2020 Spring | 1st-year Python lab (lab demonstrator) |
| 2020 Spring | 1st-year Vibrations and Waves (problem class tutor) |
| 2020 Spring | 1st-year Electromagnetism (problem class tutor) |
| 2020 Spring | 1st-year Mapping the Universe (problem class tutor) |
| 2019 Winter | 2nd-year Python lab for astrophysics students (lab demonstrator) |
| 2019 Winter | 3rd-year Advanced Astrophysics Laboratory (lab demonstrator) |
| 2019 Spring | 2nd-year Electromagnetism and Optics (problem class tutor) |