Salman Al Farisi 陳成文 ☕️
Salman Al Farisi 陳成文

Graduate Research Assistant

National Tsing Hua University - Institute of Astronomy

About Me

I’m Salman, an MSc student in astronomy at National Tsing Hua University (NTHU), supervised by Prof. Andrew P. Cooper, and a member of the DESI Milky Way Survey collaboration.

My current research focuses on near-field cosmology and galactic dynamics. I study stellar streams — the tidal debris of disrupted globular clusters and dwarf galaxies — using large photometric surveys and particle-spray simulations. These structures can help us better understand the Galaxy’s merger history and dark matter on small scales.

I earned my B.Sc. in Astronomy from Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) and, before returning to academia, built machine learning systems in industry. Starting December 2026, I will pursue my PhD at the University of Edinburgh with Prof. Sergey Koposov, focusing on dark matter substructure and the stellar halo of the Andromeda galaxy.

Interests
  • Galactic archaeology
  • Dark matter
  • High performance computing
  • Machine learning
  • Agentic AI for scientific research
  • Statistics
Education

  • PhD in Astronomy

    University of Edinburgh

  • MSc in Astronomy

    National Tsing Hua University

  • BSc in Astronomy

    Bandung Institute of Technology

🚀 Mini Game — Asteroid Dodger
⏱ Score: 0 ❤️ Lives: 3 ⚡ Level: 1
📚 My Research
I study the fossil record of the Milky Way — the stellar streams, disrupted globular clusters, and accreted dwarf galaxies that trace our Galaxy’s assembly history. Using data from the DESI Milky Way Survey and galactic dynamics simulations, I search for and characterize tidal substructures in the halo. Current work uses the particle-spray (Mock Stream) algorithm to detect tidal streams across the DESI Legacy Survey footprint, including tracing the origin of the LMS-1 stream and its associated globular clusters to an ancient accretion event. More broadly, I am interested in how dark matter — both as a smooth halo and as discrete subhalos — shapes the morphology and detectability of stellar streams.
🎵 Selected Music

I recently listening to this on repeat if I need to step up the game

🐘 Save Animals

I am calling everyone to stop hunting and preserves the habitat of wild animals. I support the rights for Sumatran tigers and other animals to live along with human and not as a threat.

Sumatran tiger and other endangered wildlife that need habitat preservation