Foundation Day 2018

Prof. Ashok Ambastha has worked from the inception of the Udaipur Solar Observatory, and extensively contributed to the formulation and consolidation of its scientific programmes since 1983. He has led several total solar eclipse expeditions in India and abroad for observational studies of the structure and polarization of the solar corona. His research experience spans over 40 years in Plasma Physics, Galactic Astrophysics and Solar Physics. Prof. Ambastha guided several students at post-M.Sc. projects and doctoral level research in solar physics. He has published over 100 scientific research publications in reputed national and international scientific journals, edited 4 books/proceedings and 4 lecture notes of lectures delivered at PRL, Ahmedabad by renowned scientists, notably, D. ter Haar, and S. Chandrasekhar. Prof. Ambastha served as the National Secretary and Councilor of the Astronomical Society of India and held the position of Enrico Fermi Young Fellow in 1978, and a NRC Senior Resident Research Associate, at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville. He has delivered a large number of popular and scientific lectures in India, and abroad. He has been a member of the NASA International programme "International Living with a Star", the International Astronomical Union (I.A.U.), the Astronomical Society of India, and the National Academy of Sciences.

	FOUNDATION DAY Udaipur Solar Observatory, PRL 20^th September 2018
Udaipur Solar Observatory Invited Speakers e-Invitation		Prof. Amita Das completed her PhD from IIT Kanpur in 1990 and is currently a Senior Professor at the Institute for Plasma Research (IPR). Her research interests span a wide range of topics in Plasma Physics, which include, theoretical and simulation studies of plasmas, in particular study of waves, instabilities and turbulent phenomena in laser plasma interaction, strongly coupled plasmas etc. She has been a Visiting Assistant Project Scientist at the Fusion and Astrophysical Group of UCSD, California and the recipient of several honours such as the Best Outgoing M.Sc Physics student from IIT Kanpur, Outstanding Research Investigator Award from the DAE-SRC, the J. C. Bose Fellowship in 2018, and the Women Excellence Award from the Utkarsh Foundation. Prof. Das is also a Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences India, the Gujarat Science Academy, and an Associate Member of the ICTP. She has published over a 100 scientific articles in international journals. She also served as the Vice President and General Secretary of the Plasma Science Society of India.

		Prof. Ashok Ambastha has worked from the inception of the Udaipur Solar Observatory, and extensively contributed to the formulation and consolidation of its scientific programmes since 1983. He has led several total solar eclipse expeditions in India and abroad for observational studies of the structure and polarization of the solar corona. His research experience spans over 40 years in Plasma Physics, Galactic Astrophysics and Solar Physics. Prof. Ambastha guided several students at post-M.Sc. projects and doctoral level research in solar physics. He has published over 100 scientific research publications in reputed national and international scientific journals, edited 4 books/proceedings and 4 lecture notes of lectures delivered at PRL, Ahmedabad by renowned scientists, notably, D. ter Haar, and S. Chandrasekhar. Prof. Ambastha served as the National Secretary and Councilor of the Astronomical Society of India and held the position of Enrico Fermi Young Fellow in 1978, and a NRC Senior Resident Research Associate, at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville. He has delivered a large number of popular and scientific lectures in India, and abroad. He has been a member of the NASA International programme "International Living with a Star", the International Astronomical Union (I.A.U.), the Astronomical Society of India, and the National Academy of Sciences.