Supriya Chakrabarti is a India-born researcher and scientist from University of Massachusetts Lowell.[1] As of 2023, he is serving as the director of Lowell Center for Space Science & Technology, Lowell (LoCSST). From 2017, he is also serving the position of Director of Undergraduate Research Opportunities and Collaborations (UROC).[2] Formerly he had served as Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Studies, UMass Lowell. He has been associated with notable projects ie. Picture C, Project Blue, Space Hauc etc. He had served as director of the Center for Space Physics, Boston University. In 2016, he was awarded with the prestigious SPIE George W. Goddard Award in Space and Airborne Optics.[3] Notably he is also an administrative member of International Astronomical Union.[4]
Dr. Supriya Chakrabarti | |
|---|---|
| Born | |
| Nationality | Indian |
| Education | see Education |
| Alma mater | University of Calcutta University of California, Berkeley |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Physics and Applied Physics |
| Institutions | University of Massachusetts Lowell, Lowell (2012 onwards) University of Boston (1992-2012) University of California (1983-1992) |
Early life and education edit
Chakrabarti was born at Howrah, India. He completed his High Secondary studies in Science stream from Santragachi Kedarnath Institution, Howrah in 1969. He earned B.E from the Bengal Engineering College under University of Calcutta in 1975 and Ph.D in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from the University of California, Berkeley in 1982.[5] He said he was probably inspired by the small spot of light moving in the sky of Sputnik 1 in 1957. He also said that he also watched the first moon landing in 1969 on a TV through a large office window in the U.S. Information Service in Kolkata, India, and that left an "awe-inspiring impression" on him.[6]
Career edit
Chakrabarti served on various advisory boards, professional panels and as the guest editor for technical journals and several conference proceedings. He has authored or co-authored over 160 scholarly articles[7], over 313 research papers (as of 2021).[8] He was awarded a U.S. patent for a UV detector. During his graduation study, Chakrabarti built a sounding rocket payload. He had active participation in the Apollo-Soyuz Test Program. He was part of the development program of a spectrograph flown U.S. Air Force STP78-1 satellite, from which Chakrabarti analyzed data during the Apollo-Soyuz Test Program.[9]
After Ph.D, Chakrabarti joined the Space Sciences Laboratory, University of California at Berkeley as a Senior Fellow scientist. He had initiated multiple a research programs there in terrestrial and planetary atmospheric studies, Astrophysics. In which the space shuttle, satellite mission programs and sounding rocket programs are notable.[10]
In August 1992, Chakrabarti joined Boston University. From 1997 to 2009 Chakrabarti was the Director of the Center for Space Physics, Boston University. Chakrabarti is widely credited for his deliberate and planned direction for which Center established itself as a national leader in space research of all time.[11] His team developed various new instruments and techniques for research purposes, which including launching a satellite for upper atmospheric research. Chakrabarty researched on sunlit auroras, the prediction of ionospheric disturbances (space weather), the characterization of interplanetary hydrogen and interstellar dust.
Chakrabarti moved to the University of Massachusetts, Lowell in 2012. There, his main research interests were on assessing carbon content in forests, solar-terrestrial interactions, direct imaging of exoplanets, galaxies and upper atmospheres. From November 2013, he served as Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Studies in the university. He is currently the director of the university’s Lowell Center for Space Science & Technology (LoCSST).[12] In LoCSST, he conducts studies of the Earth, stars, the Milky Way galaxy, the cosmos and the frontiers of space and develops instrumentation for assessing carbon content in forests, solar-terrestrial interactions and direct imaging of exoplanets and conducts scientific studies of galaxies and upper atmospheres.[13] He has successfully launched more than 20 space experiments aboard sounding rockets. Some notable projects mentored and leaded by Chakraborti are PICTURE C[14], Project Blue, SPACE HAUC[15], PICTURE B etc. In SPACE HAUC, Chakrabarti mentors more than 75[16] undergraduate students from the Kennedy College of Sciences and the Francis College of Engineering for the project.[17] Chakrabarti was also the principal investigator for UMass Lowell for the Limb-imaging Ionospheric and Thermospheric Extreme-ultraviolet Spectrograph programme.
Chakrabarti is also an administrative member of International Astronomical Union. He is currently affiliated to Education, Outreach and Heritage divison, Sun and Heliosphere division and Planetary Systems and Astrobiology division. Also formerly he was past member of Commission 16 Physical Study of Planets & Satellites, Commission 46 Astronomy Education & Development, Commission 49 Interplanetary Plasma & Heliosphere and Commission 53 Extrasolar Planets.[18]
References edit
- ^ https://www.uml.edu/Research/LoCSST/faculty-staff/Chakrabarti-Supriya.aspx
- ^ https://www.uml.edu/uroc/contact-us.aspx
- ^ https://amp.spie.org/news/spie-professional-magazine-archive/2016-july/supriya-chakrabarti-spie-george-w-goddard-award
- ^ https://www.iau.org/administration/membership/individual/14907/
- ^ https://www.uml.edu/sciences/physics/faculty/chakrabarti-supriya.aspx
- ^ https://www.uml.edu/profiles/supriya-chakrabarti.aspx
- ^ https://www.uml.edu/sciences/physics/faculty/chakrabarti-supriya.aspx
- ^ https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Supriya_Chakrabarti/amp
- ^ https://www.uml.edu/sciences/physics/faculty/chakrabarti-supriya.aspx
- ^ https://www.uml.edu/Research/LoCSST/faculty-staff/Chakrabarti-Supriya.aspx
- ^ https://www.uml.edu/Research/LoCSST/faculty-staff/Chakrabarti-Supriya.aspx
- ^ https://www.uml.edu/Research/LoCSST/faculty-staff/Chakrabarti-Supriya.aspx
- ^ https://www.uml.edu/sciences/physics/faculty/chakrabarti-supriya.aspx
- ^ https://web.physics.ucsb.edu/~bmazin/projects/picturec.html
- ^ https://www.uml.edu/research/locsst/research/spacehauc/about.aspx
- ^ https://www.uml.edu/research/locsst/research/spacehauc/about.aspx
- ^ https://www.uml.edu/research/locsst/research/spacehauc/about.aspx
- ^ https://www.iau.org/administration/membership/individual/14907/