Ngoc Truong (pronounced ‘gnoc’ like gnocchi!) is a Vietnamese planetary scientist currently based at the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) in San Antonio, where he works as a postdoctoral researcher (and also on the job market for Fall 2024!). Ngoc is an expert in connecting the composition and origin of outer Solar System objects, all from primitive bodies in the solar nebula (e.g. Kuiper Belt objects, CI chondrites) to the volatile abundances and formation of history of giant planets and their icy satellites, bridging the gap between primitive bodies and these massive worlds.

Ngoc’s most recent work tackles the "solar abundances" problem, a long-standing discrepancy between spectroscopic and helioseismic measurements of heavy elements within the Sun. By employing a novel approach that integrates the composition of Kuiper Belt objects, CI chondrites, returned samples from Ryugu & Bennu, and data from solar CNO neutrinos, Ngoc has put new constraints on the solar carbon, nitrogen and oxygen abundances.

This offers fresh insights into the early solar system and planetary formation, which he aims to apply in tackling key questions such as the deep water abundances in Jupiter, the nature of Uranus's interior composition, the origin of water and volatiles in icy satellites. Ngoc’s work has also examined the age of Enceladus’s ocean and its history of hydrothermal evolution using noble gases, the potential of using amino acids as biosignatures in icy ocean worlds. He also starts to collaborate with exoplanets researchers to study the possibility of a supercritical ocean on sub-Neptune K2-18b.

His involvement with spacecraft missions includes Juno, where he contributes to the Origins Working Group, and he is an affiliate team member of the upcoming Europa Clipper mission on the mass spectrometer MASPEX, set to launch in late 2024.

WORK EXPERIENCE

Postdoctoral Researcher → SwRI, San Antonio, 2023-Current (Supervisor: Dr. Christopher R. Glein)
PhD, Planetary Science → Cornell University, 2017-2023 (Advisor: Prof. Jonathan I. Lunine)
Bsc, Space Science → Univ. of Science & Technology of Hanoi, Vietnam, 2013–2016 (Advisor: Dr. Pascal Lee)