About

Education

• Ph.D. in Hydrology
  Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Jackson School of Geosciences, University of Texas at Austin (2021–present)
  Dissertation: Flow and transport processes in supra-permafrost aquifers in the Arctic.
  Advisors: Dr. M. Bayani Cardenas, Dr. Ann Jingyi Chen

• Integrated B.S.& M.S. in Exploration Geophysics
  Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur (2016–2021)
  Thesis: Numerical modeling of seawater intrusion considering diurnal head changes and matrix compression-rebound DOI.
  Advisors: Dr. Abhijit Mukherjee, Dr. Aditya Bandyopadhyay

Research Focus

I investigate groundwater flow and reactive solute transport in Arctic permafrost landscapes, with particular emphasis on the supra-permafrost aquifer zone. My work aims to understand how thawing permafrost and changing climate conditions influence carbon cycling, groundwater discharge, and greenhouse gas emissions.I integrate field observations, laboratory experiments, remote sensing data, and numerical modeling using high-performance computing. My approach focuses on developing mechanistic frameworks to quantify the movement of heat, nutrients, and carbon through complex subsurface environments.

Updates

• April 2025 - Awarded DOE Earth System Science PI Meeting Travel Grant to present the poster Impacts fo Changing Hydrologic Conditions on Groundwater Flow and Reactive Solute Transport in Supra-permafrost Aquifers at the Annual PI Meeting at Reston, Virginia.
• February 2025 - Received Outstanding Student Presentation Award (OSPA) at AGU Fall Meeting, Washington, DC LINK.
• December 2024 - Presented research talk: “Impacts of climate conditions on groundwater flow and reactive solute transport in supra-permafrost aquifers”, AGU Fall Meeting, Washington, DC.
• October 2024 - 1st Place at Jackson School of Geosciences Hackathon on computational reproducibility. LINK.
• September 2024 - Published first-author paper in Journal of Hydrology:
  Mukherjee, N., et al. (2024). Water and carbon fluxes from a supra-permafrost aquifer to a stream across hydrologic states. DOI
• September 2024 - Co-authored paper selected as Editors’ Choice in Physics of Fluids:
  Virappane, S., Azadi, R., Mukherjee, N., and Tsai, P. A. (2024). Three-dimensional simulations of two-phase plug flow in a microfluidic channel. DOI
• April 2024 - Awarded DOE Earth System Science PI Meeting Travel Grant for research presentation at Reston, Virginia.
• December 2023 - Poster presentation at AGU Fall Meeting: Investigating groundwater flow and thermal transport in Arctic supra-permafrost aquifers.
• November 2023 - Received CUAHSI Reactive Transport Workshop Travel Grant (hosted at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory).
• May 2023 - Awarded Off-Campus Research Grant by Jackson School of Geosciences for Arctic fieldwork (Toolik Field Station, Alaska).
• December 2022 - Oral presentation at AGU Fall Meeting, Chicago:
  Groundwater contribution to stream flow and organic matter chemistry in the Arctic.
• December 2021 - Oral presentation at AGU Fall Meeting, New Orleans:
  Characterizing Rayleigh Taylor Instability and Convection in a Porous Medium with Geoelectric Monitoring.
• December 2021 - Awarded Prof. Supriya Mohan Sengupta Memorial Award for best Masters’ Thesis from IIT Kharagpur.
• January 2020 - Received University of ALberta Research Experience (UARE), a fully paid research opportunity at the University of ALberta.
• May 2019 - Awarded CNRS Research Fellowship to conduct summer research internship at Geosciences Rennes, France.
• 2016-2021 - Recipient of Department of Science and Technology, Inspire Scholarship to support full tuition coverage for undergraduate studies at the IIT Kharagpur.

About my origin

I am originally from Kolkata, the capital city of West Bengal in India, often called the City of Joy.
I have been fascinated by subsurface processes since my undergraduate days and am deeply interested in how groundwater shapes ecosystems, carbon cycles, and climate dynamics.
Outside of research, I enjoy traveling, hiking, running, playing violin and photography.