Ishan Mishra

Hello! I am a JPL postdoctoral fellow working with Dr. Bonnie Buratti on developing photometric models for airless planetary bodies in the outer solar system. As an affiliate of the Europa Clipper science team, I have a special interest in studying light reflected from Europa’s surface and what it can tell us about the subsurface ocean’s composition. I got my PhD at Cornell University's Department of Astronomy, working with Prof. Nikole Lewis and Prof. Jonathan Lunine on developing tools to better infer composition of planetary surfaces via spectroscopic data analysis, with a special focus on Europa. Most of my graduate school work was supported by NASA's FINESST award.

My research interests involve analyzing reflected light data from planetary surfaces using appropriate physical models and statistical tools. The goal is to infer properties like composition, porosity, roughness, etc. of the planetary body being observed. These methods can also be applied to simulated data from future missions/observatories, to help assess their science output and inform their design. My work so far has focused on the application of Bayesian inference to infer physical and chemical properties of planetary surfaces using spectroscopic and photometric data. In the dawn of the era of JWST, I am also interested in exploring how emitted light from hot and rocky exoplanets can unveil the properties of the surfaces of these far away worlds.

I grew up in various towns in India and obtained a Bachelor of Technology (B.Tech.) degree from the Indian Institute of Technology in Guwahati, located in the foothills of the Himalayas in the north-east part of India. Although an electronics and communications engineering major in college, I was fortunate to have gotten opportunities to explore my interest in astronomy and planetary science, through various schools, workshops, and research experiences that spanned a broad range of topics, such as star clusters and main belt asteroids.