APRIL QIU CHENG.
I completed my undergraduate studies in physics and mathematics at MIT in 2024, after which I completed a Fulbright research fellowship at the Albert Einstein Institute in Potsdam. I'm a 2025 Hertz fellow, 2023 Astronaut Scholar, and the winner of the 2024 MIT Barrett Prize. In 2024, I attended the 73rd Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting. I'm excited to begin my PhD at Princeton starting fall 2025.
In my free time, I like to write, read, try new cafés, and play video games.
publications
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selected research
- In progress - optimizing the search for subpopulations with reversible-jump MCMC
- In preparation - dark siren cosmology with cross-correlations!
- (arXiv:2506.08932) - I built the first library to simulate full-sky fast radio bursts (FRBs) by ray tracing through the Illustris-TNG cosmological simulation. I ran a variety of experiments to study systematics and selection effects in cross-correlations of FRB dispersion measures and foreground galaxies as a cosmological probe
- (LIGO T2300368) - As a 2023 LIGO SURF, I studied astrophysically-motivated correlations in population properties of merging black holes. I forecasted 3rd-generation detection capabilities and also studied the biases of searching for a correlation with an imposed phenomelogical model.
- (ApJ 955 127) - Using astrophysically-motivated models to infer the formation origins of binary black holes (Zevin+ 2021), I updated the analysis with GWTC-3, made forecasts for GWTC-4, and explicitly showed the biases that arise from wrong or incomplete prior astrophysical knowledge.
outreach
The road ahead is long, but so is my journey thus far. In high school, I participated in the International Olympiad for Astronomy and Astrophysics and Science Olympiad. Without these outreach programs, I wouldn't be where I am.
Since 2020, I have been heavily involved in writing astronomy tests and developing resources for the Astronomy event of Science Olympiad. A (nearly) comprehensive list of these can be found here. As of 2025, I am also involved in coaching the USA IOAA team. In Spring 2026, I plan to tutor at the New Jersey Northern State Prison as part of the Prison Teaching Initiative.
Other outreach involvements are in the works...
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- In progress - optimizing the search for subpopulations with reversible-jump MCMC
- In preparation - dark siren cosmology with cross-correlations!
- (arXiv:2506.08932) - I built the first library to simulate full-sky fast radio bursts (FRBs) by ray tracing through the Illustris-TNG cosmological simulation. I ran a variety of experiments to study systematics and selection effects in cross-correlations of FRB dispersion measures and foreground galaxies as a cosmological probe
- (LIGO T2300368) - As a 2023 LIGO SURF, I studied astrophysically-motivated correlations in population properties of merging black holes. I forecasted 3rd-generation detection capabilities and also studied the biases of searching for a correlation with an imposed phenomelogical model.
- (ApJ 955 127) - Using astrophysically-motivated models to infer the formation origins of binary black holes (Zevin+ 2021), I updated the analysis with GWTC-3, made forecasts for GWTC-4, and explicitly showed the biases that arise from wrong or incomplete prior astrophysical knowledge.
outreach
The road ahead is long, but so is my journey thus far. In high school, I participated in the International Olympiad for Astronomy and Astrophysics and Science Olympiad. Without these outreach programs, I wouldn't be where I am.
Since 2020, I have been heavily involved in writing astronomy tests and developing resources for the Astronomy event of Science Olympiad. A (nearly) comprehensive list of these can be found here. As of 2025, I am also involved in coaching the USA IOAA team. In Spring 2026, I plan to tutor at the New Jersey Northern State Prison as part of the Prison Teaching Initiative.
Other outreach involvements are in the works...
The road ahead is long, but so is my journey thus far. In high school, I participated in the International Olympiad for Astronomy and Astrophysics and Science Olympiad. Without these outreach programs, I wouldn't be where I am.
Since 2020, I have been heavily involved in writing astronomy tests and developing resources for the Astronomy event of Science Olympiad. A (nearly) comprehensive list of these can be found here. As of 2025, I am also involved in coaching the USA IOAA team. In Spring 2026, I plan to tutor at the New Jersey Northern State Prison as part of the Prison Teaching Initiative.
Other outreach involvements are in the works...