Assistant Professor, Department of Astronomy, Columbia University
Associate Research Scientist, Center for Computational Astrophysics, Flatiron Institute
kd3038 at columbia dot edu
I am an Assistant Professor in the Department of Astronomy, Columbia University and Associate Research Scientist at the Center for Computational Astrophysics, Flatiron Institute. I work with wide-field imaging surveys on the ground and in space to discover cosmic fireworks from stars in our Galaxy and in the distant Universe. Using panchromatic follow-up facilities, I study the role of stellar cataclysms in shaping the universe as we "see" it in light and "hear" it in gravitational waves. You can learn more about my recent work at this Library.
Between 2021–2024, I was a NASA Einstein Fellow and Kavli Institute Fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a postdoctoral affiliate at the Institute for Theory and Computation at Harvard University. I obtained my PhD in Astrophysics from the California Institute of Technology in 2021 under the supervision of Mansi Kasliwal. Previously, I obtained my undergraduate degree in Physics from the Indian Institute of Science in 2016, working with Yashwant Gupta and Prateek Sharma on high time-resolution studies of radio pulsars.
Working with students, postdoctoral scholars and long-term collaborators, our group is spearheading multiple projects with synoptic sky surveys to answer long-standing questions surrounding the lives of stars and their remnants.
We built a uniform pipeline to re-process over 15 years of WISE/NEOWISE imaging to study dust‑enshrouded transients in the Galactic plane and nearby galaxies. Combined with time domain coverage from ground-based optical surveys and space-based spectroscopy with SPHEREx, we are systematically charting the landscape of dusty eruptions in preparation for the Roman Space Telescope.
Our group is involved with ongoing ground-based infrared time domain surveys -- Palomar Gattini-IR, the Wide-field Infrared Transient Explorer (WINTER) and the Prime-focus Infrared Microlensing Experiment (PRIME). We utilize innovative techniques in image processing, data archiving and detector technology to carry out deeper and faster surveys of the infrared sky.
![[Replace with ZTF/optical figure: light‑curve ensemble or rate plot]](images/mirage.png)
We deploy new follow-up capabilities on telescopes to enhance time domain science in the era of large surveys like the Rubin Observatory (as members of the LSST Discovery Alliance), Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) and the Roman Space Telescope.
I led the organization of the Flatiron Summer School on Astronomical Transients in 2025 with my co-organizers Matteo Cantiello and Brian Metzger -- an intensive program introducing graduate students to the science, methods and challenges of time-domain astrophysics in the era of the Rubin Observatory. The lecture videos, slides and hands-on material are available online.
I actively engage in public outreach at museums and community events, and by developing accessible educational resources on cosmic explosions and time-domain astronomy.
