Dibyendu Nandi

My research interest encompasses understanding the variability of our star, the Sun, and its influence on our space environment and planetary atmospheres such as that of Earth. The Sun is a variable star. It's magnetic, particulate and radiative energy output varies, most notably over the 11 year sunspot cycle, but also over stellar and planetary evolutionary timescales stretching from centuries to billions of years. This leaves an imprint on the habitability of planets, uncovering which in solar system planets and exoplanets is another topic I am passtionate about. I am also involved in developing techniques for space weather forecasting and space mission support, primarily motivated from the viewpoint of utilizing ideas and experiences gained from the fundamental sciences to support technological advances that benefit humanity.

• BSc (Physics), St. Xavier's College, Calcutta University, 1995
• MS (Physics), Indian Institute of Sciencem, 1998
• PhD (Physics), Indian Institute of Science, 2003

• Postdoctoral Fellow, Research Scientist and Assistant Research Professor, Montana State University, 2002-2008
• Chairperson, Public Outreach and Education Committee, Astronomical Society of India
• Assistant Professor, IISER Kolkata, 2008-2012
• Associate Professor, IISER Kolkata, 2013-2018
• Professor, IISER Kolkata, 2018 - continuing

• Martin Forster Gold Medal for the Best Thesis, Division of Physical and Mathematical Sciences of the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore: 2004
• Parker Lectureship, American Astronomical Society-Solar Physics Division: 2008
• Ramanujan Fellowship, Department of Science and Technology, Government of India: 2009
• Harvey Prize, Solar Physics Division, American Astronomical Society: 2012
• Wenner-Gren Visiting Professorship, Nordic Institute of Theoretical Physics, Sweden, 2018
• Modali Award, Astronomical Society of India, 2018
• Young Career Award, Asia Pacific Solar Physics Meeting Society, 2020

Research Scholars

Yoshita Baruah

Sakshi Gupta

Postdoctoral Fellows

1. “Explaining the Latitudinal Distribution of Sunspots with a Deep Meridional Flow”, Nandy, D., & Choudhuri A.R. 2002, Science, Volume 296, Page 1671
2. “The Unusual Minimum of Solar Cycle 23 Caused by Changes in the Sun’s Meridional Plasma Flows”, Nandy, D., Munoz-Jaramillo, A., & Martens, P.C.H. 2011, Nature, Volume 471, Page 80
3. “Prediction of the Strength and Timing of Sunspot Cycle 25 Reveal Decadal-scale Space Environmental Conditions”, Bhowmik, P., & Nandy, D. 2018, Nature Communications, 9, 5209
4. “Progress in Solar Cycle Predictions: Sunspot Cycles 24–25 in Perspective (Invited Review and Editors’ Choice Article), Nandy, D. 2021, Solar Physics, Volume 296, Page 54
5. "A Comparative Analysis of Machine-Learning Models for Solar Flare Forecasting: Identifying High-Performing Active Region Flare Indicators", Sinha, S., Gupta, O., Singh, V., Lekshmi, B., Nandy, D., Mitra, D., Chatterjee, S., Bhattacharya, S., Chatterjee, S., Srivastava, S., Brandenburg, A., Pal, S. 2022, Astrophysical Journal, Volume 935, Page 45

• Vice President, Commission E4 (Impact of Magnetic Activity on Solar and Stellar Emvironments), International Astronomical Union (IAU)
• Chairperson, Public Outreach and Education Committee, Astronomical Society of India (ASI)
• Coordinator, International Space Weather Actions Team Education Cluster, Committee on Space Research (COSPAR)
• Member, ISRO-NASA Heliophysics Working Group under the Indo-US Civil Space Working Group
• Convener, Aditya L1 Space Weather Monitoring and Predictions Committee, ISRO
• Convener, Solar and Heliospheric Physics Vision Document, Astronomical Society of India