Jiaxuan Li studies the smallest galaxies in the nearby universe to understand how dark matter and galaxy formation operate on the smallest cosmic scales. During his Ph.D. at Princeton University, he pioneered new techniques to measure distances to faint galaxies using subtle surface-brightness fluctuations in imaging data, enabling large surveys of dwarf galaxies that were previously impossible. He leads the ELVES-Dwarf survey, which produced the first statistical census of satellite systems around dwarf galaxies and revealed systems that challenge theoretical predictions. As a Brinson Prize Fellow at Stanford University, he will use next-generation sky surveys, including the Rubin Observatory, NASA’s Roman Space Telescope, and ESA’s Euclid mission, to discover tens of thousands of dwarf galaxies across the nearby universe. By turning these systems into precision probes, his work aims to uncover how dark matter, cosmic reionization, and the large-scale environment shape galaxy formation, while constructing the best three-dimensional map of our cosmic neighborhood.
Jiaxuan Li
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