Who am I?
Hello! My name is Jiten Dhandha. I am 26 years old. I was born in Gujarat, India, but did my undergraduate and masters at the University of Manchester in the UK. I subsequently did my PhD student at the Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge, studying the cosmological 21-cm signal, its observations through various radio telescopes, and how it can be used in conjunction with other cosmological probes such as the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).
I am currently a postdoctoral research fellow at the Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe (IPMU) in Tokyo, Japan, continuing my work on the Cosmic Dawn (when the first stars and galaxies formed) and the Epoch of Reionization (when they subsequently ionized the intergalactic medium).
What do I do?
For a peek into my inspiration and journey into cosmology, and my work as part of the PhD, check out the interview below with Dr. Harley Katz, a former Boustany Foundation Astronomy PhD scholar at the University of Cambridge and now assistant professor at the University of Chicago.
What else do I do?
When I am not raving about space, ranting about errors in my analysis codes or involving myself in too many projects, I find myself doing one or more of the following things (in no specific order):
- consuming unearthly amounts of masala chai;
- pretending to be a half-elephant, half-human (or other equally strange characters) in Dungeons & Dragons;
- solving math puzzles or competitive coding problems;
- playing assorted video-games (I love single-player story-driven games!);
- editing or doing gnomish work on Wikipedia articles;
- trying out game development on Unreal Engine, or 3D modelling on Blender;
- and last, but certainly not the least, learning about Indian cooking and trying out new dishes!