Rate My Professor Nanda Dasgupta

Professor Nanda Dasgupta, also known as Mahananda Dasgupta, is a distinguished experimental nuclear physicist serving as Professor in the Department of Nuclear Physics and Accelerator Applications within the Research School of Physics at the Australian National University (ANU). She holds the position of Director of the Heavy Ion Accelerator Facility (HIAF), Australia's largest and highest voltage ion accelerator, which supports cutting-edge research in nuclear and quantum sciences. Dasgupta completed her PhD in nuclear fusion at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in Mumbai, India, in 1992. She relocated to ANU shortly thereafter for postdoctoral research and has remained there for over 30 years, contributing to every major upgrade of the HIAF. In 1998, she was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Fellowship by the Australian Research Council. She made history in 2003 as the first woman appointed to a continuing academic position in physics at ANU. From 2011 to 2016, she served as the inaugural Georgina Sweet Australian Laureate Fellow, promoting women in science and supporting early-career researchers. Dasgupta leads the Nuclear Reaction Dynamics group, renowned for developing unique particle detection systems.

Her research specializes in nuclear reaction dynamics, encompassing fusion, quasifission, fission, and breakup processes in heavy ion collisions, with a focus on superheavy element synthesis, energy dissipation, shell effects, and interactions of weakly bound nuclei near the Coulomb barrier. Notable publications include "Colliding heavy nuclei take multiple identities on the path to fusion" (Nature Communications, 2023), "Sequential fission and the influence of 208Pb closed shells on the dynamics of superheavy element synthesis reactions" (Physics Letters B, 2020), "Experimental studies of the competition between fusion and quasifission in the formation of heavy and superheavy nuclei" (Progress in Particle and Nuclear Physics, 2021), and "Competition between fusion and quasifission in the angular momentum dependent dynamics of heavy element synthesis reactions" (Physical Review C, 2023). She has garnered major awards, including the Pawsey Medal from the Australian Academy of Science (2006), Fellowship of the Australian Academy of Science (2011), Fellowship of the American Physical Society (2019), and the Walter Boas Medal from the Australian Institute of Physics (2023, jointly with David Hinde). With over 14,500 citations on Google Scholar, her contributions have profoundly impacted the field. Dasgupta has delivered public lectures as the 2004 Women in Physics Lecturer and serves on national committees such as the National Science and Technology Council.