Kevin Schlaufman earned BS degrees with honors and high distinction in 2004 from Penn State in both mathematics and astronomy & astrophysics, a MS in 2006 from Stanford in scientific computing and computational mathematics, and a PhD in 2011 from UC Santa Cruz in astronomy & astrophysics. Before coming to Johns Hopkins University, he worked as a senior data scientist at LinkedIn, as a Kavli Fellow at MIT, and as a Carnegie-Princeton Fellow at the Observatories of the Carnegie Institution for Science.

Schlaufman is a theoretically-oriented observational astronomer working at the intersection of Galactic astronomy and exoplanets. His most recent work has focused on theoretically identifying and observationally executing tests of planet formation models. Models of planet formation have struggled to explain the diversity of exoplanet architectures observed in the thousands of exoplanet systems discovered by the radial velocity, transit, microlensing, and direct imaging techniques. At the same time, the large number of systems now known permits the identification of weak signals of the planet formation process that were invisible in smaller samples.

Schlaufman is also leading the first all-sky search for the oldest and most chemically primitive stars in the Milky Way, with a special focus on the inner Galaxy. The kinematics and abundances of the elements in these ancient stars are important for studies of both the formation of the Milky Way and the nucleosynthetic yields and explosive deaths of the first generation of stars in the Universe.

First-author refereed publications (advisee authors are italicized)

16. The Occurrence-weighted Median Planets Discovered by Transit Surveys Orbiting Solar-type Stars and Their Implications for Planet Formation and Evolution
    Kevin C. Schlaufman and Noah D. Halpern
    2021, Astrophysical Journal, 921, 24
    astro-ph/2106.09725

15. An Ultra Metal-poor Star Near the Hydrogen-burning Limit
    Kevin C. Schlaufman, Andrew R. Casey, and Ian B. Thompson
    2018, Astrophysical Journal, 867, 98
    astro-ph/1811.00549

14. Evidence of an Upper Bound on the Masses of Planets and Its Implications for Giant Planet Formation
    Kevin C. Schlaufman
    2018, Astrophysical Journal, 853, 37
    astro-ph/1801.06185

13. The Occurrence of Additional Giant Planets Inside the Water-Ice Line in Systems with Hot Jupiters: Evidence Against High-Eccentricity Migration
    Kevin C. Schlaufman and Joshua N. Winn
    2016, Astrophysical Journal, 825, 62
    astro-ph/1604.03107

12. A Continuum of Planet Formation between 1 and 4 Earth Radii
    Kevin C. Schlaufman
    2015, Astrophysical Journal Letters, 799, L26
    astro-ph/1501.05953

11. The Best and Brightest Metal-poor Stars
    Kevin C. Schlaufman and Andrew R. Casey
    2014, Astrophysical Journal, 797, 13
    astro-ph/1409.4775

10. Tests of in situ Formation Scenarios for Compact Multiplanet Systems
    Kevin C. Schlaufman
    2014, Astrophysical Journal, 790, 91
    astro-ph/1402.7075

9. Evidence for the Tidal Destruction of Hot Jupiters by Subgiant Stars
   Kevin C. Schlaufman and Joshua N. Winn
   2013, Astrophysical Journal, 772, 143
   astro-ph/1306.0567

8. Insight into the Formation of the Milky Way through Cold Halo Substructure. III. Statistical Chemical Tagging in the Smooth Halo
   Kevin C. Schlaufman, Constance M. Rockosi, Young Sun Lee, et al.
   2012, Astrophysical Journal, 749, 77
   astro-ph/1202.2360

7. Kepler Exoplanet Candidate Host Stars Are Preferentially Metal Rich
   Kevin C. Schlaufman and Gregory Laughlin
   2011, Astrophysical Journal, 738, 177
   astro-ph/1106.6043

6. Insight into the Formation of the Milky Way through Cold Halo Substructure. II. The Elemental Abundances of ECHOS
   Kevin C. Schlaufman, Constance M. Rockosi, Young Sun Lee, Timothy C. Beers, and Carlos Allende Prieto
   2011, Astrophysical Journal, 734, 49
   astro-ph/1104.1424

5. A Population of Very Hot Super-Earths in Multiple-planet Systems Should be Uncovered by Kepler
   Kevin C. Schlaufman, D.N.C. Lin, and S. Ida
   2010, Astrophysical Journal Letters, 724, L53
   astro-ph/1010.3705

4. A physically-motivated photometric calibration of M dwarf metallicity
   Kevin C. Schlaufman and Gregory Laughlin
   2010, Astronomy & Astrophysics, 519, A105
   astro-ph/1006.2850

3. Evidence of Possible Spin-orbit Misalignment Along the Line of Sight in Transiting Exoplanet Systems
   Kevin C. Schlaufman
   2010, Astrophysical Journal, 719, 602
   astro-ph/1006.2851

2. Insight into the Formation of the Milky Way Through Cold Halo Substructure. I. The ECHOS of Milky Way Formation
   Kevin C. Schlaufman, Constance M. Rockosi, Carlos Allende Prieto, et al.
   2009, Astrophysical Journal, 703, 2177
   astro-ph/0908.2627

1. The Signature of the Ice Line and Modest Type I Migration in the Observed Exoplanet Mass-Semimajor Axis Distribution
   Kevin C. Schlaufman, D.N.C. Lin, and S. Ida
   2009, Astrophysical Journal, 691, 1321
   astro-ph/0809.1651

Second-author refereed publications (advisee authors are italicized)

18. The Transit Age: Precise Exoplanet System Ages in the Era of Gaia and JWST
    Zafar Rustamkulov, Kevin C. Schlaufman, David K. Sing, et al.
    2024, AAS Journals, submitted

17. Accurate, Precise, and Physically Self-consistent Ages and Metallicities for 400,000 Solar Neighborhood Subgiant Branch Stars
    David M. Nataf, Kevin C. Schlaufman, Henrique Reggiani, and Isabel Hahn
    2024, AAS Journals, submitted

16. Kepler-discovered Multiple-planet Systems Near Period Ratios Suggestive of Mean-motion Resonances are Young
    Jacob H. Hamer and Kevin C. Schlaufman
    2024, Astronomical Journal, 167, 55
    astro-ph/2312.02260

15. Verification of Gaia DR3 Single-lined Spectroscopic Binary Solutions With Three Transiting Low-mass Secondaries
    Stephen P. Schmidt, Kevin C. Schlaufman, Keyi Ding, et al.
    2023, Astronomical Journal, 166, 225
    astro-ph/2310.07936

14. Iron-rich Metal-poor Stars and the Astrophysics of Thermonuclear Events Observationally Classified as Type Ia Supernovae. I. Establishing the Connection
    Henrique Reggiani, Kevin C. Schlaufman, and Andrew R. Casey
    2023, Astronomical Journal, 166, 128
    astro-ph/2303.16357

13. The Dependence of Iron-rich Metal-poor Star Occurrence on Galactic Environment Supports an Origin in Thermonuclear Supernova Nucleosynthesis
    Zachary Reeves, Kevin C. Schlaufman, and Henrique Reggiani
    2023, Astronomical Journal, 166, 127
    astro-ph/2307.05669

12. A Mini-Neptune Orbiting the Metal-poor K Dwarf BD+29 2654
    Fei Dai, Kevin C. Schlaufman, Henrique Reggiani, et al.
    2023, Astronomical Journal, 166, 49
    astro-ph/2306.08179

11. Evidence for the Late Arrival of Hot Jupiters in Systems with High Host-star Obliquities
    Jacob H. Hamer and Kevin C. Schlaufman
    2022, Astronomical Journal, 164, 26
    astro-ph/2205.00040

10. Evidence that the Hot Jupiter WASP-77 A b Formed Beyond Its Parent Protoplanetary Disk's H₂O Ice Line
    Henrique Reggiani, Kevin C. Schlaufman, Brian F. Healy, Joshua D. Lothringer, and David K. Sing
    2022, Astronomical Journal, 163, 159
    astro-ph/2201.08508

9. The Most Metal-poor Stars in the Magellanic Clouds are r-process Enhanced
   Henrique Reggiani, Kevin C. Schlaufman, Andrew R. Casey, Joshua D. Simon, and Alexander P. Ji
   2021, Astronomical Journal, 162, 229
   astro-ph/2108.10880

8. The Age-Metallicity-Specific Orbital Energy Relation for the Milky Way's Globular Cluster System Confirms the Importance of Accretion for Its Formation
   Turner Woody and Kevin C. Schlaufman
   2021, Astronomical Journal, 162, 42
   astro-ph/2104.10697

7. Searching for Low-mass Population III Stars Disguised as White Dwarfs
   Vedant Chandra and Kevin C. Schlaufman
   2021, Astronomical Journal, 161, 197
   astro-ph/2102.05058

6. An Increase in Small Planet Occurrence with Metallicity for Late-type Dwarf Stars in the Kepler Field and Its Implications for Planet Formation
   Cicero X. Lu, Kevin C. Schlaufman, and Sihao Cheng
   2020, Astronomical Journal, 160, 253
   astro-ph/2009.06638

5. The Most Metal-poor Stars in the Inner Bulge
   Henrique Reggiani, Kevin C. Schlaufman, Andrew R. Casey, and Alexander P. Ji
   2020, Astronomical Journal, 160, 173
   astro-ph/2007.12728

4. Ultra-short-period Planets are Stable Against Tidal Inspiral
   Jacob H. Hamer and Kevin C. Schlaufman
   2020, Astronomical Journal, 160, 138
   astro-ph/2007.10944

3. Hot Jupiters are Destroyed by Tides While Their Host Stars Are on the Main Sequence
   Jacob H. Hamer and Kevin C. Schlaufman
   2019, Astronomical Journal, 158, 190
   astro-ph/1908.06998

2. The Universality of the Rapid Neutron-capture Process Revealed by a Possible Disrupted Dwarf Galaxy Star
   Andrew R. Casey and Kevin C. Schlaufman
   2017, Astrophysical Journal, 850, 179
   astro-ph/1711.04776

1. Chemistry of the Most Metal-poor Stars in the Bulge and the z ≳ 10 Universe
   Andrew R. Casey and Kevin C. Schlaufman
   2015, Astrophysical Journal, 809, 110
   astro-ph/1509.01252

Nth-author refereed publications (advisee authors are italicized)

37. TESS Giants Transiting Giants. IV. A Low-density Hot Neptune Orbiting a Red Giant Star
    Samuel Grunblatt, Nicholas Saunders, Daniel Huber, et al.
    2024, AAS Journals, submitted
    astro-ph/2303.06728

36. Spectacular Nucleosynthesis from Early Massive Stars
    Alexander P. Ji, Sanjana Curtis, Nicholas Storm, et al.
    2024, Astrophysical Journal Letters, 961, L41
    astro-ph/2401.02484

35. Insight into the Formation of β Pic b through the Composition of Its Parent Protoplanetary Disk as Revealed by the β Pic Moving Group Member HD 181327
    Henrique Reggiani, Jhon Yana Galarza, Kevin C. Schlaufman, et al.
    2024, Astronomical Journal, 167, 45
    astro-ph/2311.12210

34. The Eighteenth Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Surveys: Targeting and First Spectra from SDSS-V
    Andrés Almeida, Scott F. Anderson, Maria Argudo-Fernández, et al.
    2023, Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series, 267, 44
    astro-ph/2301.07688

33. A Study of Stellar Spins in 15 Open Clusters
    Brian F. Healy, Peter R. McCullough, Kevin C. Schlaufman, and Geza Kovacs
    2023, Astrophysical Journal, 944, 39
    astro-ph/2301.10249

32. The Chemical Composition of Extreme-velocity Stars
    Henrique Reggiani, Alexandar P. Ji, Kevin C. Schlaufman, et al.
    2022, Astronomical Journal, 163, 252
    astro-ph/2203.16364

31. Dynamically Tagged Groups of Metal-Poor Stars from the Best & Brightest Survey
    Derek Shank, Timothy C. Beers, Vinicius M. Placco, et al.
    2022, Astrophysical Journal, 926, 26
    astro-ph/2109.08600

30. Stellar Spins in the Pleiades, Praesepe and M35 Open Clusters
    Brian F. Healy, Peter R. McCullough, and Kevin C. Schlaufman
    2021, Astrophysical Journal, 923, 23
    astro-ph/2109.08692

29. Final Targeting Strategy for the SDSS-IV APOGEE-2S Survey
    Felipe A. Santana, Rachel L. Beaton, Kevin R. Covey, et al.
    2021, Astronomical Journal, 162, 303
    astro-ph/2108.11908

28. Searching for new solar twins: The Inti survey for the Northern Sky
    Jhon Yana Galarza, Ricardo López-Valdivia, Diego Lorenzo-Oliveira, et al.
    2021, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 504, 1873
    astro-ph/2104.02806

27. A New Window into Planet Formation and Migration: Refractory-to-Volatile Elemental Ratios in Ultra-hot Jupiters
    Joshua D. Lothringer, Zafar Rustamkulov, David K. Sing, et al.
    2021, Astrophysical Journal, 914, 12
    astro-ph/2011.10626

26. Targeting Bright Metal-poor Stars in the Disk and Halo Systems of the Galaxy
    Guilherme Limberg, Rafael M. Santucci, Silvia Rossi, et al.
    2021, Astrophysical Journal, 913, 11
    astro-ph/2103.07621

25. The non-monotonic, strong metallicity dependence of the wide-binary fraction
    Hsiang-Chih Hwang, Yuan-Sen Ting, Kevin C. Schlaufman, Nadia L. Zakamska, and Rosemary F. G. Wyse
    2021, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 501, 4329
    astro-ph/2010.02920

24. Very wide companion fraction from Gaia DR2: A weak or no enhancement for hot Jupiter hosts, and a strong enhancement for contact binaries
    Hsiang-Chih Hwang, Jacob H. Hamer, Nadia L. Zakamska, and Kevin C. Schlaufman
    2020, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 497, 2250
    astro-ph/2007.03688

23. CKS IX: Revisiting the Minimum-Mass Extrasolar Nebula with Precise Stellar Parameters
    Fei Dai, Joshua N. Winn, Kevin C. Schlaufman, et al.
    2020, Astronomical Journal, 159, 247
    astro-ph/2004.04847

22. Discovery of s-process enhanced stars in the LAMOST survey
    Brodie K. Norfolk, Andrew R. Casey, Amanda I. Karakas, et al.
    2019, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 490, 2219
    astro-ph/1911.00177

21. Tidal Interactions between Binary Stars Can Drive Lithium Production in Low-mass Red Giants
    Andrew R. Casey, Anna Y. Q. Ho, Melissa Ness, et al.
    2019, Astrophysical Journal, 880, 125
    astro-ph/1902.04102

20. On the discovery of K-enhanced and possibly Mg-depleted stars throughout the Milky Way
    Alex J. Kemp, Andrew R. Casey, Matthew T. Miles, et al.
    2018, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 480, 1384
    astro-ph/1807.05693

19. Infrared colours and inferred masses of metal-poor giant stars in the Kepler field
    Andrew R. Casey, Grant M. Kennedy, T. R. Hartle, and Kevin C. Schlaufman
    2018, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 478, 2812
    astro-ph/1805.12133

18. Constraints on the Obliquities of Kepler Planet-hosting Stars
    Joshua N. Winn, Erik A. Petigura, Timothy D. Morton, et al.
    2017, Astronomical Journal, 154, 270
    astro-ph/1710.04530

17. Absence of a Metallicity Effect for Ultra-short-period Planets
    Joshua N. Winn, Roberto Sanchis-Ojeda, Leslie Rogers, et al.
    2017, Astronomical Journal, 154, 60
    astro-ph/1704.00203

16. The Aquarius comoving group is not a disrupted classical globular cluster
    Andrew R. Casey, Stefan Keller, Alan Alves-Brito, et al.
    2014, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 443, 828
    astro-ph/1309.3562

15. Joint LIGO and TAMA300 search for gravitational waves from inspiralling neutron star binaries
    Benjamin Abbott, Richard Abbott, Rana Adhikari, et al.
    2006, Physical Review D, 73, 102002
    gr-qc/0512078

14. Search for gravitational waves from binary black hole inspirals in LIGO data
    Benjamin Abbott, Richard Abbott, Rana Adhikari, et al.
    2006, Physical Review D, 73, 062001
    gr-qc/0509129

13. Upper limits from the LIGO and TAMA detectors on the rate of gravitational-wave bursts
    Benjamin Abbott, Richard Abbott, Rana Adhikari, et al.
    2005, Physical Review D, 72, 102004
    gr-qc/0507081

12. First all-sky upper limits from LIGO on the strength of periodic gravitational waves using the Hough transform
    Benjamin Abbott, Richard Abbott, Rana Adhikari, et al.
    2005, Physical Review D, 72, 102004
    gr-qc/0508065

11. Search for gravitational waves from primordial black hole binary coalescences in the galactic halo
    Benjamin Abbott, Richard Abbott, Rana Adhikari, et al.
    2005, Physical Review D, 72, 082002
    gr-qc/0505042

10. Search for gravitational waves from galactic and extra-galactic binary neutron stars
    Benjamin Abbott, Richard Abbott, Rana Adhikari, et al.
    2005, Physical Review D, 72, 082001
    gr-qc/0505041

9. Upper limits on gravitational wave bursts in LIGO's second science run
   Benjamin Abbott, Richard Abbott, Rana Adhikari, et al.
   2005, Physical Review D, 72, 062001
   gr-qc/0505029

8. Search for gravitational waves associated with the gamma ray burst GRB030329 using the LIGO detectors
   Benjamin Abbott, Richard Abbott, Rana Adhikari, et al.
   2005, Physical Review D, 72, 042002
   gr-qc/0501068

7. Limits on Gravitational-Wave Emission from Selected Pulsars Using LIGO Data
   Benjamin Abbott, Richard Abbott, Rana Adhikari, et al.
   2005, Physical Review Letters, 94, 181103
   gr-qc/0410007

6. Analysis of first LIGO science data for stochastic gravitational waves
   Benjamin Abbott, Richard Abbott, Rana Adhikari, et al.
   2004, Physical Review D, 69, 122004
   gr-qc/0312088

5. Analysis of LIGO data for gravitational waves from binary neutron stars
   Benjamin Abbott, Richard Abbott, Rana Adhikari, et al.
   2004, Physical Review D, 69, 122001
   gr-qc/0308069

4. First upper limits from LIGO on gravitational wave bursts
   Benjamin Abbott, Richard Abbott, Rana Adhikari, et al.
   2004, Physical Review D, 69, 102001
   gr-qc/0312056

3. Setting upper limits on the strength of periodic gravitational waves from PSR J1939+2134 using the first science data from the GEO 600 and LIGO detectors
   Benjamin Abbott, Richard Abbott, Rana Adhikari, et al.
   2004, Physical Review D, 69, 082004
   gr-qc/0308050

2. Upper limits on the strength of periodic gravitational waves from PSR J1939+2134
   Bruce Allen, Graham Woan, LIGO Scientific Collaboration, et al.
   2004, Classical and Quantum Gravity, 21, S671
   gr-qc/0311023

1. Detector description and performance for the first coincidence observations between LIGO and GEO
   Benjamin Abbott, Richard Abbott, Rana Adhikari, et al.
   2004, Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research A, 517, 154
   gr-qc/0308043