Reba Mithua Bandyopadhyay (born 1972)[1] is an American science policy analyst. Formerly a professional astronomer, she works as deputy executive director of the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology in the US Office of Science and Technology Policy,[2] and as legislative and science policy analyst for the National Science Board of the National Science Foundation.[3]

Reba Bandyopadhyay
Born1972
Education
Scientific career
Fields
Thesis Infrared observations of X-ray binaries  (1998)
Doctoral advisorPhil Charles

Astronomy

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As an astronomer, Bandyopadhyay specialized in observations of the Galactic Center and of star systems containing neutron stars and black holes.[4] She has also participated in studies of 2060 Chiron, a Solar System object combining the characteristics of comets and asteroids.[5]

Bandyopadhyay graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1993.[5] She completed a D.Phil. in 1998 at the University of Oxford in England, with the dissertation Infrared observations of X-ray binaries supervised by Phil Charles.[6] After postdoctoral research at the Naval Research Laboratory, she worked for the Gemini Observatory from 2001 to 2004, at the observatory's Oxford office. She then became a research scientist at the University of Florida.[7]

Science policy

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From 2014 to 2015 Bandyopadhyay was a science advisor in the United States Senate, advising Brian Schatz as an American Physical Society Congressional Fellow,[2][8] and from 2015 to 2017 she worked for the National Science Board as an American Association for the Advancement of Science Science & Technology Policy Executive Branch Fellow,[2][4] before taking her present positions as deputy executive director of the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology in the US Office of Science and Technology Policy,[2] and as legislative and science policy analyst for the National Science Board of the National Science Foundation.[3]

Recognition

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Bandyopadhyay was elected as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in 2021, in the AAAS Section on Astronomy.[9] She was elected as a Fellow of the American Physical Society (APS) in 2023, after a nomination from the APS Forum on Physics and Society, "for outstanding contributions to the nation through informing, crafting, and advancing innovative, inclusive, and data-driven science and technology policy".[10]

References

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  1. ^ Birth year from Library of Congress catalog entry, retrieved 2023-10-29
  2. ^ a b c d "Reba Bandyopadhyay, PhD Deputy Executive Director", President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, White House, retrieved 2023-10-29
  3. ^ a b "Reba Bandyopadhyay", Staff directory, National Science Foundation, retrieved 2023-10-29
  4. ^ a b Glorioso, Christin (May 24, 2016), AFS interviewed Dr. Reba Bandyopadhyay, AAAS policy fellow, Academics for the Future of Science, retrieved 2023-10-29
  5. ^ a b Waugh, Alice C. (January 11, 1995), "New data shed light on unusual comet", MIT News, retrieved 2023-10-29
  6. ^ "Reba Mithua Bandyopadhyay", AstroGen, American Astronomical Society, retrieved 2023-10-29
  7. ^ "Bandyopadhyay, Reba M.", Vivo, University of Florida, retrieved 2023-10-29
  8. ^ Johnson, Tawanda W. (September 14, 2023), "As the Congressional Science Fellowship Turns 50, Former Fellows Reflect on Their Experience — and Where They Are Now", APS News, vol. 32, no. 10, American Physical Society, retrieved 2023-10-29
  9. ^ "2021 AAAS Fellows approved by the AAAS Council", Science, 375 (6579): 393–397, January 2022, doi:10.1126/science.ada0325
  10. ^ "Fellows nominated in 2023 by the Forum on Physics and Society", APS Fellows archive, American Physical Society, retrieved 2023-10-29