Michael Poon is a postdoctoral associate at MIT. His research centers on exoplanetary obliquity – the tilt between a planet’s rotational and orbital axes – which is a newly observable signature of planetary formation and dynamics. He approaches this emerging field from three complementary angles:

• Observational (combining high-resolution spectroscopy, direct imaging, and space-based photometry to obtain new obliquity measurements)
• Theoretical (exploring the origins of planetary tilts through collisions, spin-orbit resonances, moons, gravitational instability, etc)
• Statistical (developing Bayesian hierarchical models to infer population-level constraints)

In the near future, Michael is excited to use time-resolved photometry of super-Jupiters with JWST to reveal how fast these planets spin, providing a direct window into a planet’s birth environment.

Michael defended his PhD in 2026 at the University of Toronto, advised by Profs. Marta Bryan and Hanno Rein.