“The road to wisdom?

Well, it’s plain

and simple to express:

Err and err and err again,

but less and less and less.”

— Piet Hein

Students in the group have the opportunity to participate in every stage of an instrumentation project—from scientific motivation and concept development to optical and optomechanical design, laboratory characterisation, commissioning, observations, data reduction methods, and scientific analysis. My research philosophy is simple: develop new techniques and instruments, test them on the sky, and use them to answer exciting scientific questions. Depending on the project, there are also opportunities to collaborate internationally and observe at leading astronomical facilities.

We welcome motivated PhD, Master’s, undergraduate, and project students interested in observational astrophysics, astronomical instrumentation, and scientific software development.

In keeping with IUCAA’s mandate of fostering astronomy and astrophysics research across Indian universities, students from universities across India are especially encouraged to get in touch regarding research projects, internships, and potential PhD opportunities. Students from Physics, Astronomy, Engineering, and related disciplines are all welcome.

Open positions: Recruitment announcements will be posted here as positions become available. Prospective students are nevertheless encouraged to contact me to discuss potential opportunities.

Opportunities

PhD Students

Prospective PhD students are welcome to discuss research projects in areas including:

• Astronomical instrumentation
  • Polarimetric methods
  • Instrument design, including optical and optomechanical design
  • Fiber-fed spectroscopy
• Scientific software development, such as developing pipelines for converting raw instrument data to science ready results
• Instrument control and automation
• Instrument calibration
• Interstellar dust and magnetic fields
• Instrumentation and technology development for future Extremely Large Telescopes

Master’s and Undergraduate Students

Research projects are available for Master’s dissertations, undergraduate research projects, internships, and summer students. If you are interested in joining the group, please send me an email with a brief description of your interests and a copy of your CV.

Current Members

The group is currently being established at IUCAA.

Members will be listed here as they join.

Alumni

Master’s Students

• Chris Dennison-Farrar — University of Cape Town (2024–2026)

Undergraduate Research Students

• Gundo Madiba — University of Cape Town (2023)
• Hardik Kuralkar — IISER Bhopal (2022–2023)
• Neeraj Dapurkar — Fergusson College, Pune (2020)
• Poorva Bhalerao — Cummins College, Pune (2018–2019)
• Rahul Sanghvi — Fergusson College, Pune (2018)