Shantanu Basu Short CV
Education and Career History
- 2010 -- present: Professor, Physics and Astronomy, Western University
- 2016: Senior Visiting Fellow, Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics
- 2010 -- 2015: Chair, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Western University
- 2008 -- 2010: Director, Theoretical Physics Program, Western University
- 2005 -- 2010: Associate Professor, Physics and Astronomy, Western University
- 2002 -- 2005: SHARCNET Site Leader for Western University
- 1999 -- 2005: Assistant Professor, Physics and Astronomy, Western University
- 1996 -- 1999: Postdoctoral Research Associate, Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics (CITA), University of Toronto
- 1993 -- 1996: Postdoctoral Research Associate, Michigan State University
- 1993: PhD, Physics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
- 1985: BSc, Physics and Mathematics, Florida State University
Publication History (Aug 2024)
- 100+ papers in peer-reviewed journals, mostly short author number papers
- 12 papers as first or second author that have over 100 citations
- 38 single or first author papers
- 50+ papers with past or present trainee as first author
- 10 review papers
- 5000+ total citations
- 2000+ total citations when normalized by number of authors
- h-index: 42
- Google i10 index: 74
Book
Essential Astrophysics: Interstellar Medium to Stellar Remnants, Shantanu Basu and Pranav Sharma, 2021, CRC Press, ISBN 9781032105635.
Research Highlights
- One of the originators of the Migrating Embryo Model for the formation and evolution of circumstellar disks. A unified scenario for episodic accretion onto stars, formation of companions by direct gravitational instability, and migration and ejection of substellar mass objects. Discovered through numerical simulations.
- The role of magnetic fields and magnetic field dissipation in the formation of circumstellar disks. A demonstration that magnetic field dissipation leads to disk formation at the earliest protostellar phase and the calculations of the subsequent 3D evolution of magnetized disks, jets, cavities, and outflows.
- Extensive work on gravitational instability in interstellar molecular clouds, including the demonstration that the nonlinear outcome of gravitational instability and subsequent core mass function is a sensitive function of magnetic field strength and ionization fraction.
- Introduction of the Modified Lognormal Power Law (MLP) distribution function as a possible model for the stellar initial mass function (IMF).
- An explanation for the shape of the observed quasar luminosity function (QLF). The power-law portion of the QLF reveals the growth rate of formation of direct collapsed black holes (DCBHs) in the early universe, and the sharp downturn above a certain luminosity reveals the duration of the epoch of DCBH formation.
Awards and Recognitions
- 2016-17 and 2012-13, University Students Council Teaching Honour Roll Award of Excellence, Western University
- 2013, Asteroid 277883 Basu named in honour by the International Astronomical Union
- 2010, Faculty of Science Outreach Award, Western University, given to Astronomy Group
- 2007-09, Faculty Scholar Award, Western University
Talks
- 45 invited talks at major conferences, in Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, India, Iran (virtual), Italy, Japan, Spain, Taiwan, USA, Vietnam
- 69 invited colloquia/seminars, in Canada, Germany, India, Japan, Korea, Sri Lanka (virtual), Taiwan, UAE, UK, USA
Conferences Organized
- Astrowin 2020, Feb 16-21, 2020
- Astrowin 2019, Feb 19-23, 2019
- Astrowin 2017, Feb 20-23, 2017
- Astronomy at Taj 2016, Feb 15-19, 2016
- Magnetic Fields: Cloud Cores to Young Stellar Objects (CC2YSO), May 17-19, 2010
- Ontario Star Formation Jamboree, Oct 2008
- From Protostellar Disks to Planetary Systems, May 18-19, 2006
Training of Highly Qualified Personnel
- 9 postdoctoral fellows. Most still active in astrophysics. One currently at Western, two in faculty positions, five in follow-on research positions
- Postdoctoral fellows have held fellowships from NSERC, SHARCNET, NATO, and CITA (4 separate times)
- 8 PhD students graduated
- 10 MSc students graduated