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Astroparticle Physics Laboratory

Abhishek Amit Desai

(NASA PHD FELLOW)

Abhishek Amit Desai's Contact Card & Information.
Email: abhishek.a.desai@nasa.gov
Org Code: 661
Address:
NASA/GSFC
Mail Code 661
Greenbelt, MD 20771
Employer: NPP POST-DOC CONTRACT

Brief Bio


I received my PhD in 2019 from Clemson University, South Carolina. During my PhD years, I worked on studying the extragalactic background light (EBL) using Fermi LAT observations of active galactic nuclei (AGN) and gamma-ray bursts. I also worked as an instructor of astronomy for a summer school at John Hopkins University, Center for Talented Youth.


I later got the John Bahcall fellowship at University of Wisconsin Madison to study the possibility of AGN being sources of astrophysical neutrinos seen by the IceCube detector. I worked on studying the radio neutrino correlation from AGN during my fellowship. I also worked on simulating the Galactic neutrino signal using a simulation package we developed named SNuGGY.


I am currently interested in using multimessenger + multiwavelength astronomy to explain processes happening inside an AGN. I plan to continue this work, extending to observations from NICER+Fermi-LAT and IceCube, at Goddard as a NPP fellow. I have not given up on Galactic neutrino signals too and plan to extend my simulation study to both high and low energy neutrinos.

Research Interests


Studying the X-ray and Neutrino Correlation in AGN

Astrophysics: X-ray Astrophysics


Upcoming X-ray missions and its connection to neutrinos

Astrophysics: Technology & Missions


"Simulating the Neutrino and Gamma-ray Galactic Yield (SNuGGY)" simulation

Astrophysics: Galaxies


Studying neutrino background from Supernovae

Astrophysics: Supernovae & SNRs


Current Projects


Multi-wavelength and Multi messenger emission from AGN

Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN)

Using a combination of X-ray, Gamma-ray, and neutrino data to understand AGN processes


Studying the radio-neutrino correlation in AGN

Analysis

Using a combination of IceCube neutrino data along with the MOJAVE and RFC catalogs to understand correlation between these observations.

Positions/Employment


NPP (NASA Postdoctoral Program) Fellow

ORAU - NASA GSFC

November 2023 - Present


Postdoctoral Fellow

UW Madison - WIPAC (Wisconsin IceCube Particle Astrophysics Center)

October 2019 - November 2023


Research Assistant

Clemson University - Clemson University

August 2015 - August 2019

Teaching Experience


Instructor at John Hopkins University CTY (Center for talented youth) summer school for middle/high school students, July 2017


Undergraduate Physics and Astrophysics Labs: Jan 2013- Aug 2016

  • PHYS 212,226, ASTR 101 (CSU Fullerton)
  • PHYS 124,210 (Clemson University)


Helped mentor graduate students with their research projects at Clemson University, University of Wisconsin-Madison and currently NASA GSFC.

Education


Ph.D., Physics & Astronomy, August 2019

  • Clemson University, Clemson, SC
  • Thesis Topic: Unveiling the cosmic history of light
  • Advisor: Marco Ajello, Ph.D


M.S., Physics, Aug 2014

  • CSU Fullerton, Fullerton, CA
  • Topic: Reinvestigating the Lambda Boo Stars
  • Advisor: Kwang-Ping \Patricia" Cheng, Ph.D


B.E., Electrical, May 2012

  • SVIT (Gujarat Technological University),
  • Vasad, Gujarat, India


Professional Service


-Organizer of the "Time domain and multi-messenger astrophysics with neutrinos" splinter session at AAS meetings ( HEAD24, Winter25)

-Participated in multiple proposal review panels:

  • Mission Concept Review at NASA GSFC 2024
  • NSPIRES proposal-2024
  • Multiple HE Telescope Proposals

-Reviewer for Astrophysics journals like ApJ, A&A and ASTR.

-Co-organizer of IceCube Masterclass 2021,2022

-Co-organizer of IceCube Bootcamp 2020

-Co-organizer of MASC meeting 2019

Awards


Proposal award

  • NASA Fermi GI Program, Cycle 17,(Co-I) ---- 2025-2026
  • NASA Postdoctoral Program ---- (June 2023)
  • NICER Telescope Guest Observer, Cycle 5 ---- 2023-2024
  • NASA Fermi GI Program, Cycle 9, $60, 000 ---- 2016-2018

Postdoctoral Fellowship

  • John Bahcall Fellowship–WIPAC Link ---- 2019-2023

Student Award Clemson University Physics and Astronomy

  • Best Research Assistant Award ---- 2019
  • SIRPA Conference Best Talk ---- 2019
  • Curry Fellowship in Graduate Astrophysics ---- 2014–2015

Student Award — CSU Fullerton, Masters

  • Titan Shops Textbook Scholarship ---- 2013

Grants


Probing the AGN neutrino connection using multimessenger observations with NICER and IceCube

NICER Telescope Guest Observer, Cycle 5 - NASA - Awarded: 2023-01-11


Dates:  - 


THE LAT ON STEROIDS AND THE ROLE OF GALAXIES IN THE UNIVERSE

NASA Fermi GI Program, Cycle 9 - NASA - Awarded: 2016-07-31


Dates:  - 

Amount 60000

Other Professional Information


For full CV see: Link

Website: abhishekdesai.net

Publications


Refereed

2024. "Probing the Connection between IceCube Neutrinos and MOJAVE AGN." The Astrophysical Journal 973 (2): 97 [10.3847/1538-4357/ad643d] [Journal Article/Letter]

2024. "Constraints on the Origins of the Galactic Neutrino Flux Detected by IceCube." The Astrophysical Journal 966 (1): 23 [10.3847/1538-4357/ad2a5e] [Journal Article/Letter]

2023. "Constraints on Populations of Neutrino Sources from Searches in the Directions of IceCube Neutrino Alerts." The Astrophysical Journal 951 (1): 45 [10.3847/1538-4357/acd2ca] [Journal Article/Letter]