Field of Study India: Physics

Adway Kumar Das

Mr. Adway Kumar Das is a Ph.D. candidate at IISER Kolkata, West Bengal. His doctoral thesis focuses on how the statistical properties of the energy spectrum and states of various random matrix model manifests in the dynamics of single-particle quantum mechanical systems. His research has been published in peer-reviewed international journals like Physical Review E, Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and Theoretical, and Journal of Statistical Mechanics: Theory and Experiment (JSTAT). He has presented at several national and international conferences like Conference on Nonlinear Systems and Dynamics (CNSD), Statphys-Kolkata, and Nordita-Stockholm conference on Ergodicity Breaking and Integrability in Long-Range Systems and on Random Graphs, 2022.

Mr. Das holds a BS-MS dual degree from IISER Kolkata, West Bengal, where he was awarded the second-best thesis by the Department of Physical Sciences. He was awarded the Innovation in Science Pursuit for Inspired Research (INSPIRE) fellowship in 2021 by the Department of Science & Technology, Government of India. He is also a member of the IISER Kolkata student chapter of OPTICA. While Physics keeps Mr. Das occupied, he is also interested in social work and loves to travel. He particularly enjoys trekking in Sikkim and strolling along the beaches of Kerala. He is an avid fan of Bayern Munich and relishes the works of Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay, Sidney Sheldon and Dan Brown.

As a Fulbright-Nehru Doctoral Research fellow, Mr. Das is exploring the correlations among the energy levels of banded random matrices and corresponding Hilbert space structure. He is primarily working on the spectral statistics and quenched dynamics to address the loss of ergodicity and thermalization in single-particle quantum mechanical systems.

Vinod Narayanan

Dr. Vinod Narayanan earned his Ph.D. from Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Bengaluru, and is currently Associate Professor at the Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar, Gujarat. He joined IIT Gandhinagar in 2009, where he supervised two Ph.D. students and twenty master’s students.

Dr. Narayanan’s research expertise is in theoretical and computational fluid dynamics. His research interests are hydrodynamic stability and transition to turbulence, fully developed turbulence, mixing and combustion in high-speed flows. His team has developed various computational models in hydrodynamic stability and flow control. He has authored more than 20 publications in peer-reviewed international journals and more than 50 articles in conference proceedings.

During his Fulbright-Nehru Academic and Professional Excellence fellowship, Dr. Narayanan aims to develop numerical models and experimental techniques for suspensions in isotropic and wall-bounded turbulent flows. This project fundamentally investigates the fluid mechanics of suspension, its basic properties, and its effects on large-scale dynamics, using a combination of high-resolution numerical simulations and state-of-the-art laboratory experiments.

Srubabati Goswami

Prof. Srubabati Goswami, Senior Professor at the Physical Research Laboratory, Gujarat, is an internationally acclaimed neutrino physicist and is recognized as a world expert in her field of research. She earned her Ph.D. from the University of Calcutta in 1998. She has received several awards, including the Humboldt fellowship from Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, the J.C. Bose National fellowship of Departmental Science and Technology, India among others. She is an elected fellow of all the three science academies in India as well as The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS).

The Standard Model (SM) is exceptionally successful in describing the properties of the fundamental particles. However, Prof. Goswami is currently interested in pursuing theoretical motivations and experimental observations that tread beyond the SM. Among these, neutrino oscillations, observed in terrestrial experiments, which requires neutrinos to be massive and mix amongst different flavors, provided compelling evidence of physics beyond the Standard Model (BSM). Apart from oscillations, there can be several other signatures of BSM physics, including non-standard interactions, existence of extra neutrino species, and decay of neutrinos. The signatures of dark matter can also be looked into in various neutrino experiments.

During her tenure as a Fulbright-Nehru Academic and Professional Excellence scholar, Prof. Goswami is working on exploring BSM physics in neutrino experiments, specifically in the context of a liquid Argon detector, as in the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment. The novelty of the project is to consider both the beam and the atmospheric neutrinos, and to investigate the synergy between these in enhancing the sensitivity of the experiment.

Naveen Kumar Tailor

Dr. Naveen Kumar Tailor is working as a research associate in the Department of Physics at the Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee. He completed his M.Sc. in physics from the University of Rajasthan, Jaipur, and Ph.D. from the Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee. His Ph.D. research focused on the comprehensive description of lead-free perovskites and double perovskite single crystals, including growth and investigation of fundamental properties, structure-property relationships with cation and anion transmutation, carrier dynamics, and excited state physics using optical and electrical spectroscopy techniques, as well as applications in photodetection and X-ray detection. His Ph.D. research was recognized with the Excellence in Doctoral Research award. Additionally, he has gained experience in perovskite solar cells and explored carrier dynamics in perovskites using impedance spectroscopy, as well as fundamental photophysics in perovskite nanocrystals. Recently, he has started working on CO2 reduction, focusing on the discovery of novel materials for efficient CO2 photoreduction and studying the fundamental mechanisms behind it.

As a Fulbright-Nehru Postdoctoral Research fellow, Dr. Tailor’s has meticulously planned a project with the goal of developing cost-effective and stable X-ray detectors using solution-processed 3D/2D perovskite heterocrystals with exceptional sensitivity and low detection limits. This effort aims to increase the commercialization potential of this technology, fostering a vibrant ecosystem of X-ray detector manufacture in India and the U.S.

Sebin Joseph Sebastian

Sebin Joseph Sebastian is a Ph.D. candidate at the School of Physics, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Kerala. His research focuses on the captivating domain of quantum magnetism, precisely unravelling novel magnetic phases, notably spin liquids in frustrated magnets.

A recipient of the prestigious Prime Minister’s Research Fellowship (PMRF) from the Government of India, Sebin has demonstrated exceptional academic prowess, reflected in noteworthy publications in esteemed journals. He has participated in national and international conferences and webinars, including the 2023 PMRF symposium where his work was highlighted, demonstrating his commitment to advancing the field. His presentation earned him the Best Poster award in the broad field of physics.

Starting his academic journey with a bachelor’s degree in physics from St. Berchmans College, Kottayam, Sebin seamlessly transitioned into an integrated Ph.D. (MS + Ph.D.) program at IISER Thiruvananthapuram. He is involved in teaching, especially offering coaching sessions to CSIR aspirants in and outside IISER. He showcased his versatility as a trained badminton player, securing the silver medal at the Inter-IISER Sports Meet in 2023 for badminton while serving as the men’s team captain

As a Fulbright-Nehru Doctoral Research fellow at Iowa State University, Ames, IA, Sebin exploring spin liquid signatures in trillium lattice antiferromagnets using nuclear magnetic resonance experiments. His research aims to shed light on these exotic magnetic phases, potentially contributing to the development of a robust platform for fault-tolerant quantum computation. His interests include exploring diverse cuisines and cultures, aligning with his passion for travel, music, and playing musical instruments.

Debasish Borah

Dr. Debasish Borah is an Associate Professor in the Department of Physics, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Guwahati. He obtained his MSc-PhD dual degree from IIT Bombay in 2012 and subsequently worked as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Physics, Tezpur University before joining IIT Guwahati in 2015. He has received several awards, including the Canadian Commonwealth Fellowship, Young Scientist Medal from the Indian National Science Academy (INSA), Young Scientist Award from the National Academy of Sciences, India (NASI) and the Government of Assam, India among others.

Dr. Borah’s research interest lies in the area of dark matter (DM), baryon asymmetry of the universe (BAU) and the origin of neutrino mass which cannot be explained by the standard model (SM) of particle physics, motivating the need for beyond standard model (BSM) physics. During his Fulbright-Nehru Academic and Professional Excellence fellowship, Dr. Borah is planning to study different BSM scenarios explaining the origin of BAU with the aim of probing them at ongoing and future colliders through conventional and new search strategies. He also plans to find synergy among collider probes and several indirect detection prospects at gravitational wave and cosmology experiments.

Sudip Bhattacharyya

Prof. Sudip Bhattacharyya is a professor in the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Mumbai, Maharashtra. He is also the current Payload Manager of the Soft X-ray Telescope aboard AstroSat, the first dedicated Indian astronomy satellite. He primarily works on extremely compact cosmic objects, such as neutron stars and black holes. These objects provide excellent opportunities to probe extreme aspects of physics, such as strong gravity, high magnetic field, accretion-ejection mechanism, high-density degenerate matter, and gravitational waves, which cannot be studied in terrestrial laboratories. Prof. Bhattacharyya studies these objects primarily using X-ray satellite data and theoretical modelling. Prof. Bhattacharyya did his Ph.D. in astrophysics at the Indian Institute of Science and the Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bengaluru, and was a Research Associate at the University of Maryland at College Park and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in the USA, before joining a faculty position at TIFR in 2007. He received the NASA Space Science Achievement Award in 2007.

Prof. Bhattacharyya’s Fulbright-Nehru Academic and Professional Excellence project aims to study the evolution of rapidly spinning neutron stars to probe their fundamental aspects. The project can be relevant for several Indian and U.S. observatories.