Zhaohuan Zhu (Physics and Astronomy) was named a 2017 Sloan Research Fellow. He is one of 126 researchers from 60 colleges and universities in the U.S. and Canada – and the first UNLV scientist – to be awarded the prestigious fellowship. Awarded annually since 1955 by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the fellowships honor early-career scholars whose achievements mark them as the next generation of scientific leaders. Zhu’s research focuses on the origin of Earth and other planets. By using powerful supercomputers and sophisticated numerical codes, he simulates how Earth formed billions of years ago. These computer simulations can be compared with the latest observations of young forming stars and planets to reveal the secrets of how planets are born around young stars.