Rate My Professor Sukrit Ranjan

Ranjan is a theorist and modeler specializing in astrobiology, photochemistry, prebiotic chemistry, early Earth environments, exoplanet atmospheres, and the origin of life. His work constrains prebiotic conditions on Earth to guide experimental studies and develops observational tests for detecting life on other worlds, including biosignature gases and photochemical models. He has received the AAS Rodger Doxsey Prize in 2017, NAI Early Career Scholarship in 2018, NSF Graduate Research Fellowship from 2010 to 2013, CIERA Postdoctoral Fellowship, and SCOL Postdoctoral Fellowship. Key publications include 'Photochemical Runaway in Exoplanet Atmospheres: Implications for Biosignatures' (The Astrophysical Journal, 2022), 'UV Transmission in Natural Waters on Prebiotic Earth' (Astrobiology, 2022), 'Photochemistry of Anoxic Abiotic Habitable Planet Atmospheres' (The Astrophysical Journal, 2020), and recent JWST-TST DREAMS papers on TRAPPIST-1 e such as 'NIRSpec/PRISM Transmission Spectroscopy of the Habitable Zone Planet TRAPPIST-1 e' (The Astrophysical Journal Letters, 2025). His research has over 3700 citations on Google Scholar, supports NASA Exoplanets Research Program grants, and contributes to JWST observations of habitable zone exoplanets. Ranjan mentors students, co-founded the ComSciCon science communication workshop, and participates in outreach as an Astrobites author emeritus.