ABOUT DR. RADHIKA RAMACHANDRAN

Dr. Radhika Ramachandran joined Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in January 1984 as a Scientist and started her research career in the field of "Boundary Layer Physics". Her areas of specific research interests include atmospheric boundary layer, regional/mesoscale numerical weather predictions, climate change science and policy, atmospheric modelling, ocean-atmosphere interactions, data assimilation and parameterization, to name a few. She initiated numerical weather prediction activity in ISRO and commissioned numerical atmospheric models "High-resolution Regional Model (HRM)" and "Advanced Regional Prediction System (ARPS)" for operational weather prediction for the first time in ISRO during the launch campaigns. She was also instrumental in commissioning of ARPS numerical model with Doppler Weather Radar Data assimilation for effective prediction of thunderstorms at the launch site at SDSC, SHAR. She was the founder head of a new branch, "Numerical Atmosphere Modelling" at SPL and is leading this branch since 2015. She is also holding several other important responsibilities in her professional career. She is a full member of International Academy of Astronautics (IIA). She is also a member in the Editorial Board of Acta Astronautica from 2013 onwards. She is Chair of IAA study group on comparative climatology. She was selected as a Fellow of Kerala Academy of Sciences in 2013.

She has taken over as the Director of SPL and is heading the laboratory since March 2017.