KVPY Undergraduate Student Supervision
| Mr. Suvrat Rao (Now: M.Sc Physics, IIT, Kharagpur) | May - June 2017 |
| Ms. Radhika AC (Now: M.Sc Physics, IISER, Pune) | May - June 2016 |
| Mr. Hardik Routray (Now: PhD, Rutgers Physics & Astronomy, USA) | May - June 2015 |
The National Initiative on Undergraduate Science (NIUS) Supervision
| Arutkeerthi N (IIT, Roorkee) | 2022 - 23 |
| Mr. Ankur Chauhan (Now: M.Sc Physics, HRI) | Jan - June 2016 |
| Mr. Keshav Jayani (Now: IIT, Mumbai) | Jan - June 2016 |
| Ms. Anwesha Maharana (Now: PhD scholar, KULeuven, Belgium) | Jan - June 2016 |
| Ms. Priyanka Iyer (Now: Masters student, Cambridge, UK) | June 2017 - June 2019 |
| Ms. Arunima Kundu (B.Sc Physics, St Stephens College, Delhi) | June 2017 - June 2019 |
| Mr. Arkaprabha Chakaraborty (B.Sc Physics, Jaipuria College) | June 2017 - June 2019 |
Post Doc Supervision
| Dr. Manjunath Hedge | (DST- SERB project) 2019 - 2022 |
| Dr. Rakesh Mazumdar (BRICS project) | (BRICS project) 2018 - 2019 |
Undergraduate Supervision
The National Initiative on Undergraduate Science (NIUS) Supervision
| Mr. Ankur Chauhan (Now: M.Sc Physics, HRI) | Jan - June 2016 |
| Mr. Keshav Jayani (Now: IIT, Mumbai) | Jan - June 2016 |
| Ms. Anwesha Maharana (Now: M.Sc Physics, IISER, Pune) | Jan - June 2016 |
| Ms. Priyanka Iyer (Now: B.Sc Physics, St Stephens College, Delhi) | June 2017 - |
| Ms. Arunima Kundu (Now: B.Sc Physics, St Stephens College, Delhi) | June 2017 - |
| Mr. Arkaprabha Chakaraborty (Now: B.Sc Physics, Jaipuria College) | June 2017 - |
KVPY Undergraduate Student Supervision
| Mr. Suvrat Rao (Now: M.Sc Physics, IIT, Kharagpur) | May - June 2017 |
| Ms. Radhika AC (Now: M.Sc Physics, IISER, Pune) | May - June 2016 |
| Mr. Hardik Routray (Now: PhD Rutgers Physics & Astronomy, USA) | May - June 2015 |
Recent Masters thesis Supervision
| Mr. Devesh Dhole (IIT, Mumbai) | 2023 |
| Mr. Suraj Kumar Tripathy (IIST, Thiruvananthapuram) | 2023 |
| Mr. Kanchan Rajendra Jangle (IISER, Berhampur) | 2023 |
| Mr. Abhas Pradahan (IIT, Kharagpur, Now PhD Scholar at Max Planck Germany) | 2022 |
| Ms. Aarushi Rawat (Delhi University, Now PhD Scholar at Max Planck Germany) | 2022 |
| Mr. Aditya Priyadarshi (IISER, Kolkata) | Jan - May 2019 |
| Mr. Vishnu Madhu (Now: PhD IIA, Kolkata) | Jan - July 2019 |
| Ms. Shreya Bhattacharya (Now:Phd Scholar, Royal Observatory of Belgium) | Jan - May 2018 |
| Mr. Ajay Tiwari (Now: Phd Scholar, Northrumbria University, UK) | Feb 2016 - Feb 2017 |
| Mr. Sudarshan Saranathan (Now:Phd Scholar, Max Planck, Germany) | Jan - August 2016 |
| Ms. Lopamudra Mukherjee (Now: Phd Scholar, IIT Guwahati) | Jan - June 2016 |
| Ms. Shilpa Sarkar (Now:PDF, IUCAA) | Jan - May 2015 |
| Mr. Saurabh Singh Chauhan (Now: Phd Scholar, University of Minnesota) | Jan - June 2015 |
| Ms. Pavithraa Sundararajan (Now: Phd Scholar, National ChioTong University) | Jan - June 2014 |
Director's Page
Prof. Dipankar Banerjee
Director, IIST
Prof. Dipankar Banerjee,has taken charge as Director, IIST on 14 October 2024. He is an astrophysicist with a bachelor’s degree in physics (St. Xavier’s college) and master’s degree in Theoretical Physics from University of Kolkata. He has obtained his PhD from Indian Institute of Astrophysics and completed two postdoctoral tenures in reputed institutions in Europe. He served as Director, Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIES), Nainital from 2019-2024. He is also a senior professor at the Indian Institute of Astrophysics.
Dr Banerjee’s area of interest is the Sun and the solar atmosphere. His work involves theoretical and numerical modeling using data from ground and space-based instruments. His work has enriched our understanding of the Sun and its impact on Space Weather.
He is the co-chair of the Science working group of the “Aditya” mission. Aditya is the first dedicated Indian mission to study the Sun, launched by ISRO on 2nd September 2023. He is also involved with NASA’s PUNCH mission. He is fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences, National Science Academy, Royal Astronomical Society and currently the President of the Astronomical Society of India.
Dr Banerjee has more than 150 peer-reviewed publications with around 3900 Citations in international journals. He is currently supervising 5 PhD students while 15 of his students have completed their PhDs.
Apart from his scientific career, Dr Banerjee has interest in various other activities. He is trained in Hindustani vocal and part of a Bengali theatre group, Smarannik and regularly performs in plays, participating in national and international theatre festivals. Dr Banerjee’s love for science and zest for life are infectious.
PhD Students
| 1) Dr. Girjesh Gupta (under Joint Astronomy Program) | 2006 - 2010 (Now: Reader, Udaipur Solar Observatory, PRL) |
| 2) Dr. K. Chandrashekhar | 2007 - 2013 (Now: Post-Doc at University of Oslo) |
| 3) Dr. Krishna Prasad (Co-guide) | 2008 - 2013 (Now: Scientist C, ARIES) |
| 4) Dr. Tanmoy Samanta | 2012 - 2017 (Now: Assistant Professor at IIA) |
| 5) Dr. Vaibhav Pant | 2012 - 2017 (Now: Scientist D, ARIES)) |
| 6) Dr. Gopal Hazra (JAP, Co-Guide) | 2013 - 2017 (Now Assistant Professor, IIT, Kanpur ) |
| 7) Dr. Ajanta Datta | 2010 - 2017 (under Faculty Improvement Program) |
| 8) Dr. Sudip Mandal | 2014 - 2018 (Now: Post-Doc at Max Plank Institute, Gottingen) |
| 9) Ms. Nancy Narang | 2014 - 2018 (Now: Post-Doc at Royal Observatory Belgium) |
| 10) Mr. Subhamoy Chatterjee | 2015 - 2019 (Now: Research Scientist at SWRI, Boulder, USA) |
| 11) Mr. Rakesh Mazumder (IISER Kolkata) | 2014 - 2019 (Now: Scientist B, BITM, Kolkata) |
| 12) Mr. Ritesh Patel | 2017 - 2022 (Now: Research Scientist, SWRI, Boulder, USA |
| 13) Mr. Bibhuti Jha | 2018 - 2023 (Now: Postdoc at SWRI, Boulder, USA) |
| 14) Mr. Satabdwa Majumdar | 2018 - 2023 (Now: Post-Doc at Austrian Space weather Office) |
| 15) Mr. Nitin Vashist (ARIES) | 2020 - 2025 (Now: RA at ARIES) |
| 16)Mr. Arpit Srivastava (IISc, JAP) | 2020 - 2025 (Now: Postdoc at SWRI, Boulder, USA) |
| 17)Ms. Dibya Kirti Mishta (ARIES) | August 2021 - Present |
| 18)Ms. Jyoti Sheroan (ARIES) | September 2021 - Present |
| 19)Ms. Anu B Sreedevi (IIT, BHU, co-guide) | September 2021 - Present |
| 20)Ms. Srinajana Routh (ARIES) | October 2022 - Present |
| 21)Mr. Pritam Das (ARIES. co-guide) | January 2023 - Present |
| 22)Mr. Rohan Bose (ARIES. co-guide) | August 2023 - Present |
Grants
National Grants
| DST- SERB | 2015 - 2018 |
| Digitization project titled "Long term study of the sun using Kodaikanal Digitizited data" Ref:EMR/2014/000375 | |
| DST- Interdisciplinary Cyber Physical Systems | 2018 - 2020 |
| PI of project titled "Preservation and analysis of the century-long solar data from Kodaikanal Solar Observatory" | |
International Bilateral Grants
| BRICS Multilateral Research and Development Projects | 2018 - 2020 |
| PI of the Project titled "Super flares on stars and the Sun" within India - China and Russia. | |
| INDIA - US Knowledge R&D Networked Joint Center | 2018 - 2019 |
| Co-I of the project titled "Inference of Solar Variability Across Scales: Connecting the Disparate Scales of Magnetism throughout the Solar Atmosphere" | |
| UKIERI UK - INDIA | 2018 - 2020 |
| Co-I of the project titled "The Sun under the microscope - An integrated research activity to maximise the science return from a new generation of missions to study the Sun" | |
| DST - Indo - Austrian Bilateral international project | 2018 - 2020 |
| DST- BELSPO international project | 2014 - 2016 |
| PI of bi-lateral project titled "Contemporary physical challenges for heliospherical and astrophysical models (CHARM) / National Large Scale Telescope" | |
| British Council International project | 2013 - 2015 |
| Principal Investigator of joint three year UKIERI Trilateral Research Partnerships between IIA, Queens University of Belfast and National Solar Observatory, USA. | |
| Royal Society- British Council India | 2006 - 2009 |
| Three year joint research grant for collaborative research between Armagh Observatory, U.K. and Indian Institute of Astrophysics (Bilateral program between Royal Society London and the British Council India). Dipankar Banerjee was the P. I. from India and J.G. Doyle was the P.I. from U.K. | |
| DST- DAAD international project | 2007 - 2009 |
| Two year project grant under DST- DAAD (Indo-German bilateral program). Dipankar Banerjee was the P.I. from India and Sami Solanki from Max Planck Institute was the PI from Germany. | |
International Projects
Co-Chair of the Science working group of the Aditya L1 Mission, PI of the Aditya-L1 Support Cell, Member of the Time allocation committee, Co-Chair of the Outreach committee
Aditya L1 is first dedicated solar satellite launched by ISRO on 2nd September 2023 for studying the atmosphere of sun. It has a combination of 4 remote sensing and 3 in-situ payloads.
Project Co-ordinator for the National Large Solar Telescope (NLST) project
This project is in the nal approval stage. The plan is for a 2-m class ground based facility, at Merak, Ladakh. The site has been allotted to IIA for the establishment of the NLST.
Co-I of the SUIT instrument for Aditya Mission
SUIT is a full disk NUV imaging instrument on Aditya L1.
Co-I of Polarimeter to UNify the Corona and Heliosphere (PUNCH) project
PUNCH is a NASA Small Explorer (SMEX) mission to better understand how the mass and energy of the Suns corona become the solar wind that lls the solar system. Four suitcase-sized satellites will work together to produce images of the entire inner solar system around the clock, scheduled for launch in 2025.
P.I. of Kodaikanal Digitization program
We have 100 years of synoptic data in several wavelengths as observed from the Kodaikanal Solar observatory. We have digitized this data and archived in the IIA data centre. I have been involved in the archiving process, calibration and now we are working with the calibrated data from this archive. This data has been made available to the public through a portal hosted at https://kso.iiap.res.in
Associate Editor of the international Journal Solar Physics (up to 2015)
PI for several JOP and HOP programs
Joint Observing Program (JOP) and Hinode Observing Program (HOP) are the highest priority co-ordinated observing program for solar observations using ground and space based instruments, namely SoHO, Trace, Hinode etc. These proposals are accepted through TAC.