Kevin T. Trinh

I'm not sure. This would be a question for Amanda Nahm. The contact info can be found here: science.nasa.gov/planetary-sc...

I am hosting an REU opportunity at Caltech to do research in support of the NASA Europa Clipper mission. While I will be the primary mentor for this position, the student will also interact with folks from JPL as well.

Do you know of an undergrad who would be a good fit for icy moons or geophysics research? If so, encourage them to apply here: stemgateway.nasa.gov/s/course-off...

Coding is fun, but I really enjoy the occasions where most of my day is spent with just pen, paper, and doing math 🖊️📄🧠

📣 JOB: ASU SESE is hiring a (open rank, TT) professor in—you guessed it—Geoscience of Critical Minerals: apply.interfolio.com/179443

Life in Europa’s ocean could feed on rocks’ radioactive decay After series of bleak findings, theory sparks hope for alternative energy source within Jupiter’s intriguing moon

“Is Europa truly dead?” a planetary scientist asked himself after some disheartening results for the moon. “Or should we broaden our perspective on other mechanisms that can sustain life?” (Spoiler: he chose the latter)🌱🦠

Read my last #AGU2025 story (for now!) at @science.org: tinyurl.com/4dd67hhw

Titan’s strong tidal dissipation precludes a subsurface ocean - Nature Reanalysis of radiometric data from Cassini indicates that Titan does not contain a subsurface ocean, as strong tidal dissipation observed in its gravity field is not consistent with the presence of a liquid layer.

Nature research paper: Titan’s strong tidal dissipation precludes a subsurface ocean

go.nature.com/4s061hm

📢 Session announcement for #AbSciCon26!

Are you doing work in geophysics and astrobiology? Do you ever combine the two? If yes, then consider submitting an abstract to this session, led by Dr. Natalie Wolfenbarger!

Link: agu.confex.com/agu/abscicon...

Want a great job? Think I deserve raises and promotions? Please apply to be Director of ASU’s School of Earth and Space Exploration 🚀🥺

apply.interfolio.com/176991

Chatbots — LLMs — do not know facts and are not designed to be able to accurately answer factual questions. They are designed to find and mimic patterns of words, probabilistically. When they’re “right” it’s because correct things are often written down, so those patterns are frequent. That’s all.

Sketch by JT Keane of a talk at 2025 LPSC (True Polar Wander of Venus as an explanation for misaligned parabolas). Impacts on Venus loft material into the atmosphere. As the material falls back through the atmosphere, winds push it downrange — forming a parabola. This parabola should point west... but old parabolas aren't. Perhaps Venus reoriented! Parabolas are effectively paleo-west indicators. Old, misaligned parabolas might record TRUE POLAR WANDER.

Our new survey of parabolas on Venus, and evidence for True Polar Wander at ~1°/Myr is now published! (TLDR @jtuttlekeane.bsky.social was right. nananana BAT region) agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/...

Postdoctoral Positions From the Caltech Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences

Hey planetary science PhD graduaters: I know thinking about applying to postdocs this year seems daunting, so I am here to remind you that we have some REALLY GOOD prize fellowship at Caltech. Come work with me. Or Katherine. Or Heather. Or Konstantin. Or someone. Seriously. These are good. 🔭🪐

Had a great time kicking off the academic year by giving a talk at Caltech’s Planetary Science Seminar!

The importance of carbonatite lavas in outgassing Venus’ modern-day atmosphere The erosion of canali on Venus by carbonatite lavas transformed Venus’ atmosphere within the recent past.

📣 PAPER ALERT. Title says it all. I've been super excited about this project for years 🌋😍https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adw1621

Planetary Science MS/PhD Positions for Fall 2026 Crowd sourced list of people who are looking for MS/PhD students to help connect prospective students with advisors so we can do even more fabulous planetary science! (Submitting a response indicates ...

I am community sourcing a list of people who are actively in search of MS/PhD students in planetary science/astrobiology/exoplanets for Fall 2026. If you are such a person, please fill out the following google form:
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Congratulations! Well deserved 🥳

ASU SESE is hiring an Assistant Teaching Professor in Astrophysics: apply.interfolio.com/170951 🧑‍🏫 🔭

Planning to submit an abstract to hashtag#AGU25? If you're working on ocean worlds, then please consider submitting to our annual and crossdisciplinary session 🌊

Title: "Ice and Ocean Worlds: Geology, Oceanography, Chemistry, and Habitability"

Link: agu.confex.com/agu/agu25/pr...

The "Cython" library in Python is phenomenal. My old thermal evolution code in C++ took ~10 minutes to run. Now, in Python, I can run the code in ~6 seconds.

Granted, my C++ code was far from perfect, but it's nice being able to code primarily in Python while having the performance of C.

How China is vying to attract the world’s top scientific talent Hundreds of policies across the country have been designed to lure researchers and new graduates to settle there.

Hundreds of policies across China have been designed to lure researchers and new graduates to settle there

https://go.nature.com/3HvZQiq

Perks of attending a conference in Japan 🇯🇵 #JpGU

It was nice visiting the Earth Life Science Institute (ELSI) at the Institute of Science Tokyo (formerly Tokyo Tech)! Lots of great planetary scientists and astrobiologists here.

This is insane, and sabotages the future of US science—and it’s so easy to see why…

AI, quantum, etc., all started as niche research 10, 20, 50 years ago. They’re “trendy” science of national importance today because of decades of investments in broad, fundamental research.

(🧵1/3)

After serving as Director of NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory and VP of Caltech for three years, I have decided to step down, effective June 1. Though not an easy decision, I strongly believe it is the right one for me, my family, and the Lab. www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/dave-ga...

Forever a Sun Devil 🔱

NASA Announces Bold Plan To Still Exist By 2045 WASHINGTON—In what is being described as the most ambitious mission ever undertaken in the space agency’s history, NASA officials announced at a press conference Tuesday their bold new plan to still e...

NASA Announces Bold Plan To Still Exist By 2045

Joe (Kevin’s advisor) introducing Kevin

Kevin and his committee after a successful PhD defense.

Kevin and his friends celebrating with tomahawk steak tacos.

Officially Dr. Trinh! So glad to be surrounded by amazing people along the way. 🎓🌕❄️🚀

It was a pleasure sharing my research and connecting with the geophysics community at Stanford University!

I’m thrilled to share that I will be joining @caltech.edu this June as a Melza M. And Frank Theodore Barr postdoctoral fellow. Super excited for all the science to be done in the coming years.

In these past five years, I've really grown to appreciate #Arizona (despite the heat...). Lots of hiking and hidden gem restaurants around!