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Hi, I'm Tenz.

Tenzin
Tsultrim.

MSc Space Systems student at ETH Zürich, currently in Kyoto, working on characterizing exoplanet atmospheres.

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location
Kyoto, Japan
msc
Space Systems, ETH Zürich
pronouns
she/her
Portrait of Tenzin Tsultrim
[01] about

About me

I started in Earth Sciences, specialised in Geophysics, at ETH Zürich. I moved onto Space Systems, specialising in Astrophysics and spent a few months at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory working on Venusquakes.

Now I'm in Kyoto, where my master's thesis is about characterising exoplanet atmospheres using the sodium absorption line.

Between modelling and interpreting distant planets I read about 52 books a year.

[02] research

What I actually study

  • 01

    Exoplanet atmospheres

    Working out what distant worlds are made of.

  • 02

    Transmission spectroscopy

    Reading starlight filtered through a planet's atmosphere as it crosses its star.

  • 03

    Forward modeling

    Simulating atmospheres from first principles, then comparing the synthetic spectra against source truth.

[03] experience

Where I've worked

Zürich, Pasadena, Kyoto.

  1. Feb 2026 — Present Kyoto, Japan

    Kyoto University 京都大学

    Visiting Student Researcher

    MSc thesis on exoplanet atmospheres, supervised by Dr Yui Kawashima (Kyoto University) and Prof Dr Sascha Quanz (ETH Zürich).

  2. Oct 2025 — Jan 2026 Pasadena, California

    NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory

    JPL Visiting Student Researcher

    Deployable Infrasonic Sensor Array (DISA) for Venus geophysical studies.

  3. Mar 2022 — Sep 2025 Zürich, Switzerland

    ETH Zürich

    Assistant, Computer Science Library

    Three and a half years shelving, sorting, and reading.

  4. Jan 2017 — Jan 2018 St. Gallen, Switzerland

    WWF Switzerland

    Assistant

[04] education

Studied at

  1. 2024 — 2026

    ETH Zürich

    MSc, Space Systems

    1. 2026

      Kyoto University 京都大学

      MSc thesis, Astronomy & Astrophysics

    2. 2025 — 2026

      Caltech

      Visiting Researcher (NASA JPL affiliation)

  2. 2021 — 2024

    ETH Zürich

    BSc, Earth Science — major Geophysics

[05] honors

Grants & honors

  • ETH StudioX Grant

  • Heyning-Roelli Foundation Grant

  • SXS / Movetia Grants for Internships in Space

[06] the shelf

The bookshelf

  • The Dispossessed

    Ursula K. Le Guin

    all-time favorite

  • Piranesi

    Susanna Clarke

    all-time favorite

  • Assassin's Apprentice

    Robin Hobb

    all-time favorite

  • The Three-Body Problem

    Liu Cixin

    all-time favorite

  • Robot Series

    Isaac Asimov

    all-time favorite

  • A Song of Ice and Fire

    George R. R. Martin

    all-time favorite

[07] languages

Languages

  • German

    Native

  • English

    Full professional

  • French

    Professional

  • Japanese

    Limited working

  • Korean

    Elementary

  • Italian

    Elementary