Supriya Chakrabarti directs the university’s Lowell Center for Space Science and Technology (LoCSST), where he is involved in several high-profile research projects aimed at exploring the frontiers of space and finding out if there are other Earth-like planets that could support life. He leads a team of researchers, engineers and students in conducting studies of the Earth, stars, the Milky Way galaxy and the cosmos. He has successfully launched more than 20 experiments, often funded by NASA. 

As a member of Project Blue , a group scientists from private and nonprofit space and research institutions, Chakrabarti aims to design, build and launch by 2020 a small, lightweight, privately funded space telescope to detect habitable planets around our nearest stellar neighbor, Alpha Centauri. 

A professor of physics, Chakrabarti provides UMass Lowell students with real-world experience through LoCSST and the university’s Co-op Scholar Program, which he directs. The initiative provides academically qualifying freshmen with research opportunities in the arts and sciences throughout the community. 

For more information, click here to visit Chakrabarti’s academic profile.