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Quanzhi is a research faculty member at the Department of Astronomy of the University of Maryland. Currently, he lives in the Boston area and is also a long-term visitor at the Center for Space Physics of Boston University.
He is primarily interested in the small bodies of the Solar System – asteroids, comets, and meteoroids. These objects are pristine remnants from the early times of the Solar System and can help us understand planetary formation, migration, and evolution. Studying these objects can also help us understand the origins of life on Earth as well as the threat they might pose to Earth. Additionally, they offer a window into the broader context of planetary systems beyond our own.
He uses a wide range of techniques to study these objects, from ground-based and space-based telescopes in ultraviolet, optical, infrared, and radio wavelengths, to wide-field cameras and radars that capture the light and debris of meteors, and to large-scale numerical simulations running on supercomputers. Most recently, he has been working on the data obtained by the Zwicky Transient Facility to study asteroids and comets in our cosmic neighborhood. He is also a member of the NASA Planetary Data System Small Bodies Node, helping to archive and curate the data obtained by various near-Earth object surveys as well as the Minor Planet Center.