YCAA Postdoctoral Prize Fellow

Dept. of Physics and Dept. of Astronomy,

Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511

Email: Nikku.Madhusudhan@yale.edu

Tel: 617-475-5112 / 203-432-8185 

Research Interests

Modeling atmospheric spectra of extrasolar giant planets and super-Earths

Radiative transfer and atmospheric retrieval methods (grid-based and Bayesian)

Equilibrium and non-equilibrium chemistry in exoplanetary atmospheres

Carbon-rich planets, planet formation, and planetary interiors

Optimal planning of observations for characterizing exoplanetary atmospheres

Education: PhD (MIT, 2009), MS (MIT, 2004), B. Tech (IT-BHU, India, 2002)

PhD: Retrieval of atmospheric properties of extrasolar planets (MIT Physics, with Prof. Sara Seager)

Employment: Jan 2012 - Present      : Postdoctoral researcher (Yale Univ.)

                        Sep 2010 - Dec 2011   : Postdoctoral researcher (Princeton Univ.)

                        Aug 2009 - Aug 2010   : Postdoctoral researcher (MIT)

Recent Research Highlights:

Discovery of the first carbon-rich planetary atmosphere!   

Some press articles: MIT news, NASA news, TIME, BBC, Space.com

The paper can be accessed on Nature or on the ArXiv

A general study on carbon-rich giant planets

Atmospheric properties, possible formation scenarios, and implications.

The paper can be accessed here and some press articles can be read on TIME and PAW.