Mausumi Dikpati, currently a senior scientist at HAO, came to NCAR in 1996 as an ASP Postdoc, after receiving her PhD in physics from the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore, India. She has since continued her career at NCAR.

Mausumi’s primary research area has been global magnetohydrodynamics of the Sun, to simulate solar variability on time scales from a few days to several months, up to a decade, with recent focus on solar MHD Rossby waves, their implications for pre-solar-storm activity-patterns, and for predicting the “stormy seasons” of space weather. Mausumi’s pioneering activities in the application of modern data assimilation methods to solar models, using the NCAR-DART framework in collaboration with CISL, as well as using the machine learning and artificial intelligence techniques, have enabled her to win several large research grants.

She won the 2007 John Firor HAO Outstanding Publication award for her physics-based solar cycle prediction paper. Her research on the extended minimum at the end of solar cycle 23 was recognized as one of the top 100 science-discoveries in 2011 by Discover Magazine. In 2016 she won the Wenner-Gren guest professorship award from Stockholm.

Mausumi has also been active in education, supervising several REU and graduate students; all have been successful in their subsequent scientific careers. Mausumi chaired the HAO’s visitor committee and served as acting solar-section-head; she is currently serving on HAO’s DSAC and appointment committees, NCAR’s SAM (Scientific Appointment Modernization) co-design committee and NCAR-ARG. She was the only female NCAR scientist to participate in UCAR’s UVISIT program in 2013, by teaching a full-credit course on “Space Weather and Climate” at Northern Vermont University. In addition, her service on editorial boards of high-profile journals, such as Nature, as well as on various NASA panels have been highly sought after.

Being born of mathematician parents, science has been Mausumi’s primary passion from her childhood. She devoutly practices spirituality and deep meditation, which are intimately connected to her deep focus on science. Mausumi’s most favorite hobby is long-drives of 700 miles/day through the West.