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Pradip Gatkine is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of California, Los Angeles. His research interests revolve around nanometer-scale wavelengths and nanoscale devices for studying astronomical phenomena that are tens of billions of light years away. Currently, he is involved in developing on-chip integrated astrophotonic spectrographs, which have the potential to measure cosmic dynamics and the atmospheres of exoplanets, as well as distant galaxies. This cutting-edge technology allows for the significant miniaturization of astronomical spectrometers, making them comparable in size to a shoebox. His work is particularly relevant in the context of Extremely Large Telescopes (ELTs), where the volume of the spectrometer must scale with the cube of the telescope's diameter. Gatkine's applications extend across a versatile range of instrumentation for astronomy, planetary missions, and biological analysis. He also explores high redshift Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs) to probe conditions in the early universe and investigate exciting phenomena such as vigorous star formation and cosmic reionization. Furthermore, he examines the absorption spectra of GRB afterglows to unveil crucial information about the GRB's host galaxy and the circumgalactic and intergalactic mediums, creating opportunities for motivated undergraduate and graduate students, as well as postdoctoral researchers to engage in innovative astrophotonic instrumentation development.
Department of Economics admits primarily for the PhD program.