Education:

Area of Specialization & Interest:

• Planetary ionospheres and upper atmosphere, Aeronomy, Solar energy deposition and photochemical modelling, Spacecraft observational data analysis.

Honors/Awards/Fellowships/Recognitions:

1. Served as a reviewer for the UK Space Agency’s 2024 Exploration Science funding call.
2. Presented the paper 'Atypically Intense and Delayed Response of the Martian Ionosphere to the Regional Dust Storm of 2016: A Study Using MAVEN Observations and Models' at the MAVEN Project Science Group Meeting in Boston, MA, USA, October 2022. This was fully funded by Boston University.
3. INSPIRE faculty award from Department of Science and Technology, Govt. of India, April 2020.
4. Fellowship from Royal Society, London to attend the Commonwealth Science Conference, Singapore, 2017 (Nominated by the Indian National Science Academy (INSA) as an outstanding PhD student to attend the Commonwealth Science Conference 2017, Singapore).
5. Best paper award for” Calculation of ion production rates and electron density profiles for the dayside ionosphere of Titan”, 29th Kerala Science Congress (KSC), at MarThoma College, Pathanamthitta, January 2017
6. ISRO Post-Doctoral Fellowship, June 2018 – June 2020, ISRO Research Fellowship: SPL, VSSC, Trivandrum, India, Feb. 2013- Feb. 2018

SCI Publications :

1. Vrinda Mukundan, Paul Withers, Francisco González-Galindo, Anil Bhardwaj, and Marianna Felici (2022), Atypically Intense and Delayed Response of the Martian Ionosphere to the Regional Dust Storm of 2016: A Study Using MAVEN Observations and Models, Journal of Geophysical Research, 127, e2022JE007645, doi: 10.1029/2022JE007645.
2. Vrinda Mukundan, Smitha V. Thampi, Anil Bhardwaj (2022), M3 electron density layer in the dayside ionosphere of Mars: Analysis of MAVEN ROSE observations, Icarus, 384, 115062. doi: 10.1016/j.icarus.2022.115062.
3. Vrinda Mukundan, Smitha V. Thampi, Anil Bhardwaj, Xiaohua Fang (2021), Impact of the 2018 Mars global dust storm on the ionospheric peak: A study using a photochemical model, Journal of Geophysical Research, 126, e2021JE006823. doi: 10.1029/2021JE006823.
4. Vrinda Mukundan, Smitha V. Thampi, Anil Bhardwaj, Krishnaprasad C. (2020), Model calculation of ionization efficiency in the Martian dayside ionosphere using MAVEN observations, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 497, 2239-2249, doi: 10.1093/mnras/staa2123.
5. Vrinda Mukundan, Smitha V. Thampi, Anil Bhardwaj, Krishnaprasad C. (2020), The dayside ionosphere of Mars: Comparing a one-dimensional photochemical model with MAVEN Deep Dip campaign observations, Icarus, 337, 113502, doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2019.113502.
6. Vrinda Mukundan and Anil Bhardwaj (2018), A model for negative ion chemistry in Titan’s ionosphere, The Astrophysical Journal, 856, 168 – 179, doi:10.3847/1538-4357/aab1f5.
7. Vrinda Mukundan and Anil Bhardwaj (2018), Dayside ionosphere of Titan: Impact on calculated plasma densities due to variations in the model parameters, Icarus , 299, 222 - 239, doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2017.07.022.
8. Vrinda Mukundan and Anil Bhardwaj (2016), Monte Carlo model for electron degradation in xenon gas, Proceedings of Royal Society A-Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, 472, 20150727, doi:10.1098/rspa.2015.0727.
9. Anil Bhardwaj and Vrinda Mukundan (2015), Monte Carlo model for electron degradation in methane gas, Planetary and Space Science, 111, 34 – 43, doi:10.1016/j.pss.2015.03.0.

Conferences/Seminars/Symposia:

1. Vrinda Mukundan, Paul Withers, Francisco González-Galindo, Anil Bhardwaj, and Marianna Felici(2022), Atypically Intense and Delayed Response of the Martian Ionosphere to the Regional Dust Storm of 2016: A Study Using MAVEN Observations and Models, MAVEN Project Science Group meeting, Boston, MA, USA, October 2022.
2. Vrinda Mukundan, Smitha V. Thampi, Anil Bhardwaj (2022), Unusual response of the Martian ionosphere to a moderate dust storm event of October 2016, 3rd Indian Planetary Science Conference at Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad, March 2022 (Virtual Conference).
3. Vrinda Mukundan, Smitha V. Thampi, Anil Bhardwaj (2021), Understanding the M3 layer in the Martian dayside ionosphere using MAVEN observations, 21st National Space Science Symposium (NSSS-2022), ISSER, Kolkata, February 2022 (Virtual Conference).
4. Vrinda Mukundan, Smitha V. Thampi, Anil Bhardwaj, and Xiaohua Fang (2021), A Modeling Study on the Effect of the 2018 Mars Global Dust Storm on the Ionospheric Peak, The 52nd Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, Houston, USA, March 2021 (Virtual Conference).
5. Vrinda Mukundan, Smitha V. Thampi, Anil Bhardwaj, and Xiaohua Fang (2021), Response of the Martian ionospheric peak to the planet encircling dust event of June 2018, Indian Planetary Science Conference at Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad, February 2021 (Virtual Conference).

Projects (External Funded) :

• Title: Development of a photochemical model and using it as a tool to study the Martian ionospheric variabilities reported by space missions. Year of Completion: 2025. Funding agency: Department of Science and Technology, Govt. of India

Invited Talks:

1. "Aeronomy Essentials: Navigating the Realm of Space Physics" on 23 March 2024, organized by SEDS CUSAT. (Invited Talk).
2. Gas and Ice Giants: Jupiter and Saturn; Uranus and Neptune and Beyond." on 30 April 2024, organized by ISRO as a part of the Space Science and Technology Awareness Training (START-2024) programme. (Invited Talk).
3. "The Moon, Our Constant Companion", on 22 July 2024, Organized by the Department of Physics, Mar Thoma College, Chungathara, Malappuram on International Moon's Day. (Invited Talk).
4. Atypically Intense and Delayed Response of the Martian Ionosphere to the Regional Dust Storm of 2016: A Study Using MAVEN Observations and Models, MAVEN Project Science Group meeting, Boston, MA, USA, October 2022 (Invited Talk).
5. Exploring the Martian Ionosphere using Photochemical Model and Observations at Boston University College of Arts & Sciences Center for Space Physics, Boston, MA, USA, October 2022 (Invited Talk).
6. A glimpse of ionospheric and space physics, Harmonics 2021 webinar series, Union Christian College, Aluva, July 2022, (Invited Talk).

Google Scholar Links:

• https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=oHGimYoAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao

ORCID:

• 0000-0001-7991-9877

Vidwanid:

• 551701