Alex Chen

Alex Chen is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Physics at Washington University in St. Louis. He is affiliated with the McDonnell Center for the Space Sciences and leads a research group focused on astrophysical plasma dynamics. His work involves GPU-based supercomputer simulations to study radiative processes and plasma physics near compact objects like neutron stars and black holes.

Alex holds a PhD in Physics from Columbia University (2017) and has held postdoctoral positions at Princeton University’s Department of Astrophysical Sciences and JILA at the University of Colorado Boulder. His research expertise spans multi-wavelength pulsar emission mechanisms, fast radio bursts (FRBs), magnetic reconnection in extreme environments, and gamma-ray flares from active galactic nuclei (AGN).

Research interests include:

• High Energy Astrophysics
• Neutron Stars and Magnetars
• Black Hole Magnetospheres
• Relativistic Plasma Simulations
• Radiation Physics in Strong Magnetic Fields
• AI Applications in Medicine and Astronomy

Notable grants include a 2023 NSF award co-led with Yuan to simulate pulsar magnetospheres. His recent studies highlight interdisciplinary efforts, such as evaluating AI systems in medicine and developing open-source tools like the CompactObject package for neutron star analysis. Alex also contributes to the HEX-P X-ray probe project targeting magnetars.

Labs/Teams: His research group collaborates with the McDonnell Center for the Space Sciences, leveraging advanced computational frameworks like APERTURE and Gemini 1.5 to tackle complex astrophysical problems. He emphasizes mentorship through initiatives like undergraduate research programs.