D. J. Saikia

Dhruba J. Saikia
Dhruba J. Saikia
Born (1956-01-21) 21 January 1956 (age 68)
Jorhat, Assam
Alma materSt. Edmund's School, Shillong; Hindu College, Delhi University; Gwyer Hall, Delhi University; Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai
Known forActive galaxies, Radio galaxies and Quasars, Radio astronomy, Education
AwardsGeeta Udgaonkar Award of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research for the best Ph.D. thesis (1985-86); Young Scientist of the Year Award by the Indian National Science Academy (1985); Prof. M.K. Vainu Bappu Gold Medal of the Astronomical Society of India (1990)
Scientific career
FieldsAstronomy, Astrophysics, Radio astronomy, Education
InstitutionsNational Centre for Radio Astrophysics, TIFR; Jodrell Bank Observatory, University of Manchester; Queen's University, Kingston, Canada; University of Western Australia; Australia Telescope National Facility, CSIRO Astronomy and Space Science; Cotton University; Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics
ThesisPhD Thesis Jets and compact features in extragalactic radio sources (1985)
Doctoral advisorVijay Kapahi, Govind Swarup

Dhruba J. Saikia FNAsc is an Indian astrophysicist and radio astronomer, with a keen interest in education, especially higher education. He was a professor at the National Centre for Radio Astrophysics (NCRA),[1] part of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) where he worked for over 40 years and is now at the IUCAA where he heads the Teaching Learning Centre and the National Resource Centre, which constitute the Astronomy Centre for Educators (ACE). Besides TIFR and IUCAA, he has been engaged in research and/or teaching at the Jodrell Bank Observatory of the University of Manchester, National Radio Astronomy Observatory USA, Queen's University at Kingston, Canada, Australia Telescope National Facility, CSIRO Astronomy and Space Science division, Australia, the University of Western Australia, Savitribai Phule Pune University and Cotton University, India.

Saikia's research interests are in the fields of extragalactic astronomy, radio astronomy and more recently education. Along with Vijay Kapahi, he contributed to the early development of the unification scheme for AGN,[2] and has been invited to review areas where he has made significant contributions. These include reviews titled Polarization properties of extragalactic radio sources with C. J. Salter,[3] Compact steep-spectrum and peaked-spectrum radio sources with Christopher P. O'Dea,[4] Jets in radio galaxies and quasars: an observational perspective,[5] and Decoding the giant extragalactic radio sources with Pratik Dabhade and Mousumi Mahato.[6] He has recently contributed a Chapter to the Indian Higher Education Report 2023 titled Institutional research in higher education: learning from an experiment at Cotton University.[7]

Dhruba J. Saikia was the founding Vice-Chancellor of Cotton University[8] in Guwahati when the historic Cotton College, founded in 1901, was converted to a university in 2012. He was the Dean of, the National Centre for Radio Astrophysics Faculty during 2007–2009, and a member of the statutory bodies of a number of institutions for varying periods. He was a member of the Senate of Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Academic Council of Tezpur University, Management Board for Centre of Plasma Physics - Institute for Plasma Research, Governing Board of Omeo Kumar Das Institute of Social Change and Development, Governing Board of IIIT Guwahati, Governing Board and Academic Council of Assam Don Bosco University and Academic Council, TIFR Deemed University. He was the Executive President of the Physics Academy of North East (PANE) from 2017 to 2019.

Saikia is also a wildlife enthusiast, especially of birds,[9] and contributes regularly to The Cornell Lab of Ornithology portal ebird.org. He was awarded the Adventurous eBirder of the Year in 2019 by Bird Count India.[10]

  1. ^ "D. J. Saikia". National Centre for Radio Astrophysics. Retrieved 13 October 2023.
  2. ^ Trimble, Virginia (1989). "Pointing towards the source?". Nature. 337 (6204): 212. Bibcode:1989Natur.337..212T. doi:10.1038/337212a0. ISSN 1476-4687.
  3. ^ Saikia, D. J.; Salter, C. J. (1988). "Polarization Properties of Extragalactic Radio Sources". Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics. 26 (1): 93–144. Bibcode:1988ARA&A..26...93S. doi:10.1146/annurev.aa.26.090188.000521. ISSN 0066-4146.
  4. ^ O’Dea, Christopher P.; Saikia, D. J. (30 March 2021). "Compact steep-spectrum and peaked-spectrum radio sources". The Astronomy and Astrophysics Review. 29 (1): 3. arXiv:2009.02750. Bibcode:2021A&ARv..29....3O. doi:10.1007/s00159-021-00131-w. ISSN 1432-0754. S2CID 253679259.
  5. ^ Saikia, D. J. (8 December 2022). "Jets in radio galaxies and quasars: an observational perspective". Journal of Astrophysics and Astronomy. 43 (2): 97. arXiv:2206.05803. Bibcode:2022JApA...43...97S. doi:10.1007/s12036-022-09863-2. ISSN 0973-7758. S2CID 249626019.
  6. ^ Dabhade, Pratik; Saikia, D. J.; Mahato, Mousumi (16 February 2023). "Decoding the giant extragalactic radio sources". Journal of Astrophysics and Astronomy. 44 (1): 13. arXiv:2208.02130. Bibcode:2023JApA...44...13D. doi:10.1007/s12036-022-09898-5. ISSN 0973-7758. S2CID 251280030.
  7. ^ Saikia, D. J., 2023. In Indian Higher Education Report 2023, eds. Misra, P. K., Pachauri, A., Centre for Policy Research in Higher Education, National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration, India, Routledge, in press
  8. ^ "Guwahati: Cotton university gets new vice-chancellor". The Times of India. 2 June 2012. ISSN 0971-8257. Retrieved 13 October 2023.
  9. ^ Gala, Mittal (19 August 2019). "Birder Profile: Dhruba J Saikia". Bird Count India. Retrieved 8 December 2023.
  10. ^ "2023 India eBird Yearlong Challenge". Bird Count India. 29 December 2022. Retrieved 8 December 2023.