H Perry Hatchfield (he/him) is an Astrophysicist Research Scientist, Machine Learning Engineer, and a former NASA Fellow. His research focuses on studying the formation of high-mass stars and dynamically driven gas flows in the Milky Way’s Galactic Center, harnessing both astrophysical observations and numerical simulations
Hi! I’m H Perry.
I’m a Astrophysics Research Scientist at the University of Connecticut working in the The Milky Way Laboratory and former NASA Postdoctoral Fellow at JPL. I use multi-wavelength observations and magnetohydrodynamic simulations to study gas dynamics and star formation in the Milky Way’s Galactic Center. Read more about my research interests here.
I’m a former writer for Astrobites, and sometimes write about physics at my blog, physicsandyou.com. Sharing my love for physics and astronomy is one of the great joys of my life, and I do my best to take topics that seem arcane and inaccessible and make them more approachable for a much broader audience.
Outside of my work, I’m a big fan of writing and reading poetry and science fiction, playing music on the mandolin, board games, crochet, running too many D&D campaigns, cycling, hiking, and rock climbing.
What I Do –
Where I’ve Been –
The Milky Way Laboratory, UConn
Research Scientist
(October 2025 – present)
Pantheon Data
Machine Learning Engineer III
(March 2025 – May 2025)
As a machine learning engineer, I researched and applied a variety of machine learning algorithms and techniques including Optical Character Recognition (OCR), DBScan clustering, generative adversarial networks, and LLMs to innovate on our clients’ needs.
NASA Postdoctoral Fellow,
Jet Propulsion Laboratory / Caltech
(2023 – 2025)
Working within the “Structure of the Universe” group, I led the design of hyper-resolution hydrodynamic simulations to understand how turbulence and galactic-scale gas flows influence the star formation and feedback processes that govern Galactic evolution.
PhD in Physics, University of Connecticut
(2016 – 2022)
I earned my Ph.D. in Physics at the University of Connecticut’s department of physics, advised by Professor Cara Battersby in the Milky Way Laboratory. My work is focused on star formation and the Milky Way’s Galactic Center using techniques of both observational and computational astronomy. I achieved PhD candidacy and was awarded a Masters degree in Physics in Spring 2019.
Oberlin College (2012 – 2016)
I earned a B.A. in physics and a B.A. in creative writing at Oberlin College. I graduated with high honors from the physics department, where my research focused on the unusual (and as of yet entirely theoretical) spacetime due to cosmic strings and massive filaments. My creative writing work was focused on prose poetry.
H Perry Hatchfield 