Ep 24: Ananyo Bhattacharya, PhD. University of Michigan - Jupiter and Space Exploration

In this episode of Indian Diaspora Podcast, we interviewed Ananyo Bhattacharya who recently defended his Ph.D. in Climate and Space Sciences and Engineering at the University of Michigan. Ananyo was born in Sonarpur Kolkata, and currently he resides in Vadodara, Gujarat. Having grown up in different parts of India, he has been deeply influenced by the country’s cultural diversity. Experiencing different languages, and perspectives has shaped his worldview, fostering a deep appreciation for collaboration and lifelong learning. He earned his bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Sardar Vallabhbhai National Institute of Technology, Surat. He worked as a remote collaborator with academic researchers in India, mainly focusing on studies of Venus’s atmosphere. In 2020, he was the winner of the International Astronomical Union’s Name the ExoWorlds competition from India for naming the star HD 86081 after Dr. Bibha Chowdhuri. During his academic journey, Ananyo received a prestigious research fellowship to intern at Los Alamos National Laboratory and NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. In 2023, he earned a Master’s degree in Climate and Space Sciences and Engineering from the University of Michigan. As a Ph.D. student, he has been a scientific collaborator on NASA’s Juno mission, leading projects that investigate Jupiter’s deep atmosphere and polar aurora using microwave radiometry. His doctoral research focuses on two important domains i.e. (i) origin and evolution from the lens of atmospheric composition, and (ii) magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling at Jupiter. At Michigan, he co-developed a professional development seminar with his fellow graduate students focused on the hidden curriculum in Ph.D. life. Beyond his research, he is an active member of the American Geophysical Union and the American Astronomical Society’s Division for Planetary Sciences. He currently serves as a Thriving Earth Exchange Community Science Fellow at AGU. In 2023, he represented the University of Michigan at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28), where he also volunteered with the Nairobi Work Programme. Ananyo has also explored entrepreneurial initiatives. He participated in the University of Michigan’s Entrepreneurial Leadership Program (ELP) at the Center for Entrepreneurship and is pursuing a Graduate Certificate in Entrepreneurship and Innovation. As part of the ELP, he collaborated with M-HEAL, a student organization at U-M, to develop a non-electric, heating-based neonatal incubator for low-resource communities.