Research

Full list of publications on ADS

Highlights & Key Papers

Planning & Simulating Space-based Microlensing Surveys

Terry et al. (2026) Predictions of the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope Galactic Exoplanet Survey. IV. Lens Mass and Distance Measurements
Christiansen & Huber et al. (2024) Roman Galactic Bulge Time Domain Survey Definition Committee Report
Bachelet et al. (2022) Euclid-Roman joint microlensing survey: Early mass measurement, free floating planets, and exomoons
Johnson et al. (2020) Predictions of the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope Galactic Exoplanet Survey. II. Free-floating Planet Detection Rates
Penny et al. (2019) Predictions of the WFIRST Microlensing Survey. I. Bound Planet Detection Rates 
Penny et al. (2017) Predictions for the Detection and Characterization of a Population of Free-floating Planets with K2 Campaign 9
Penny (2014) Speeding up Low-mass Planetary Microlensing Simulations and Modeling: The Caustic Region Of INfluence
Zhu et al (2014) Predictions for Microlensing Planetary Events from Core Accretion Theory
Penny et al. (2013) ExELS: an exoplanet legacy science proposal for the ESA Euclid mission - I. Cold exoplanets
Penny, Mao & Kerins (2011) Detectability of orbital motion in stellar binary and planetary microlenses

Microlensing Observations & Analysis

Specht et al. (2023) Kepler K2 Campaign 9 - II. First space-based discovery of an exoplanet using microlensing
Zang et al. (2018) Measurement of Source Star Colors with the K2C9-CFHT Multi-color Microlensing Survey
Sumi & Penny (2016) Possible Solution of the Long-standing Discrepancy in the Microlensing Optical Depth toward the Galactic Bulge by Correcting the Stellar Number Count
Penny, Henderson & Clanton (2016) Is the Galactic Bulge Devoid of Planets?

Transit Surveys

Crisp et al. (2025) The Multiband Imaging Survey for High-Alpha PlanetS (MISHAPS) I: Preliminary Constraints on the Occurrence Rate of Hot Jupiters in 47 Tucanae
Montet, Yee & Penny (2017) Measuring the Galactic Distribution of Transiting Planets with WFIRST
McDonald et al. (2014) ExELS: an exoplanet legacy science proposal for the ESA Euclid mission - II. Hot exoplanets and sub-stellar systems

Galactic Stellar Population Synthesis

Huston et al. (2026) An Updated SynthPop Model for Microlensing Simulations I: Model Description & Evaluation
Klüter & Huston et al. (2025)  SYNTHPoP: A New Framework for Synthetic Milky Way Population Generation

 

Microlensing Theory

Johnson, Penny & Gaudi (2022) A Multiparameter Degeneracy in Microlensing Events with Extreme Finite Source Effects
Luhn, Penny & Gaudi (2016) Caustic Structures and Detectability of Circumbinary Planets in Microlensing
Penny, Kerins & Mao (2011) Rapidly rotating lenses: repeating features in the light curves of short-period binary microlenses

Group Members

Postdoctoral Researchers

Himanshu Verma - Gravitational microlensing with Roman

Graduate Students

Farzaneh Zohrabi - Gravitational microlensing simulations of Roman
Marz Newman - Galactic models, transiting planets with Roman, binary source microlensing
Ben Gordon - Circumbinary planets, microlensing & dynamics

Former Members & Advisees

Louisiana State University

Jonas Klüter (postdoc) - Prediction of astrometric microlensing with Gaia, galactic population synthesis models, MISHAPS transit surveys
Ali Crisp (PhD, 2024) - MISHAPS transit surveys
Marz Newman (BSc, 2022) - Asteroids in the MISHAPS Survey

Ohio State University

Samson Johnson (PhD, 2022) - Free-floating planets with Roman
Macy Huston (BSc, 2018) - Galactic population synthesis models
Jacob Luhn (BSc, 2016) - Microlensing by circumbinary planets

University of Manchester

Rieul Gendron (MSc, 2011) - Microlensing by multiplanet systems

Other Student Advising

Somayeh Khakpash (PhD, Lehigh University, 2020) - Artificial intelligence approaches to exoplanet microlensing
Weicheng Zang (BSc, Tsinghua University, 2017) - The K2C9-CFHT microlensing survey