New Delhi: Professor Somak Rahchaudhury is appointed vice chancellor of Ashoka University. He is a renowned Indian astronomer who serves as the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics' director at the moment (IUCAA).

Malabika Sarkar will be replaced by Raychaudhury because she served as Vice-Chancellor of Ashoka University until the end of her term. As VC, she assumed leadership in August 2019.

A search committee made up of the Ashoka University Chancellor, Deans, faculty members, founders, and trustees chose Somak Raychaudhury. According to the university website, his joining date will soon be made public.

Somak Raychaudhury has undergraduate degrees in physics from Presidency College at the University of Calcutta and Trinity College at the University of Oxford, as well as a PhD in Astrophysics from Churchill College, University of Cambridge.

He previously served as Presidency University's Dean of Sciences and Head of the Physics Department. Additionally, he held a number of positions at the University of Birmingham in the UK, the Lowell House and the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, as well as the Institute of Astronomy at the University of Cambridge.

Using observations at radio, optical, and X-ray frequencies, Raychaudhury, one of India's top observational astronomers, has produced important findings. In addition to working on unusual stars like black holes in nearby galaxies, he pioneered the study of galaxy superclusters, the biggest structures in the universe.

The statement read, "He has created ground-breaking machine-learning algorithms for mining massive astronomical datasets, and recently co-chaired the committee to compile the Vision document for the Government of India's next ten years of astronomy research."

Rudrangshu Mukherjee, chancellor and founding vice-chancellor, welcomed Professor Somak Raychaudhury to the position and said, "I am thrilled that Professor Raychaudhury is taking over as Vice-Chancellor of Ashoka University. In the fields of astrophysics and astronomy sciences, Professor Raychaudhury is a highly renowned academic. As the university begins its next decade, he is well-positioned to carry forward our aim to extend our ambitious Sciences and research agenda because of his exceptional expertise heading many institutions and performing great research. As we welcome Professor Raychaudhury, let me also congratulate Professor Malabika Sarkar for her outstanding work over the past few years at Ashoka. Her continued involvement with Ashoka as Principal Academic Advisor fills us great joy.

Professor Somak Raychaudhury, the newly appointed vice chancellor, said: "It is a privilege to serve as vice chancellor of Ashoka University, which is now known both nationally and internationally for its innovative approach to academic excellence, research, and innovation, as well as its broad impact. I'm thrilled to join Ashoka at this pivotal time because it is already India's top university for multidisciplinary teaching and research. I'm excited to collaborate with Ashoka's founders, faculty, students, administration, and partners to advance Ashoka's development as India's top university.

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