I was born in Kerala, India, and grew up mostly in Kerala and partly in England (primary school, and a little bit of secondary). I majored in Aerospace Engineering at Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore before I moved to the United States for my PhD at the University of Texas at Austin. Graduate school was probably the toughest seven years of my life, but also introduced me to the captivating field of planetary science. At the time I graduated with my PhD, APL's Planetary Exploration Group was looking to hire a postdoctoral fellow, which turned out to be me, and I've been here since – initially as a postdoc, and now as a staff scientist. I currently live in Laurel, MD (Piscataway and Susquehannock lands), with two cats and one husband.
The original reason I decided to do a PhD was in order to teach. Although I don't currently teach any courses, I taught junior-level Compressible Flow as a grad student (and loved it!), and always welcome opportunities to work with and learn from students of all stages, whether that's through guest lectures or seminars hosted by my university colleagues, visits (often virtual!) with school classrooms, or research with students participating in APL's internship programs.
The original reason I decided to do a PhD was in order to teach. Although I don't currently teach any courses, I taught junior-level Compressible Flow as a grad student (and loved it!), and always welcome opportunities to work with and learn from students of all stages, whether that's through guest lectures or seminars hosted by my university colleagues, visits (often virtual!) with school classrooms, or research with students participating in APL's internship programs.