Dr Sonali Shukla

Dr Shukla holds a PhD in astrophysics from Vanderbilt University, USA. Her research areas include understanding the formation of young low-mass stars and disks around young stars and brown dwarfs. She spent a year as a pre-doctoral fellow at the Spitzer Science Center, Caltech, and continued her research as a postdoctoral researcher at Penn State University. She has served in education and public outreach, both as the Astronomy Outreach Assistant at the Institute of Astronomy and Public Engagement Coordinator at the University of Cambridge. Previously, she served as Assistant Director for the physics department at the University of Maryland, where she developed novel outreach and educational programmes, particularly to increase inclusion and diversity of students in the physical sciences. Dr Shukla has developed inquiry-based practical exercises that incorporate real astronomical data whenever possible. When she is not lecturing astronomy, she works for the University of Cambridge's Careers Service advising students and postdoctoral researchers in the sciences.