Dr Ting-Yun Cheng
(aka Sunny)

Hello! I am Sunny. I am an assistant professor at the Kapteyn Institute, University of Groningen (Netherlands). My research is all about galaxies! Galaxies are cosmic archelogical sites that tell us the story of our Universe. I develop machine learning and AI algorithms to investigate how galaxies are formed and transformed in our unique Universe.

As an Astrophysicist, my research explores (i) how galaxies are formed and evolved in the early Universe and (ii) what mechanisms transform the structures and physical properties of galaxies across cosmic time. I try to answer these questions using large-scale survey data including images and spectra of millions of galaxies, and data collected from invidual telescopes!

As a Machine Learner, I am specialised at a variety of machine learning and AI techniques to accelearte and improve the analyses of the enormous inflow of astronomical datasets. In addition to the improvement of accuracy and efficiency to astronomical analyses, I am keen to understand what machines interpret images and spectra of galaxies, and to use this knowledge to bring new insights.