ZTF Faces

Siddharth Mohite

PhD student at the University of Wisconsin, Milwakee, USA

Where was your starting point and how did you discover astronomy?

I am originally from the city of Pune in India. Through my childhood, I was fascinated by the stars and the enigmatic night sky. Having an environment in my home city that was supportive of education and research, set me on the path towards exploring a career in astronomy. I completed my dual BS-MS from the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Pune in 2015. I then proceeded to pursue my PhD at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in 2016. My PhD research has focused on investigating electromagnetic transients that accompany gravitational-wave events. Through the GROWTH Collaboration (of which the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee is a part of) I was introduced to the ZTF team.

What are you playing with in the ZTF playground?

My work within the ZTF collaboration has involved working with the EMGW sub-group where the focus has been to investigate kilonovae using ZTF observations.

Where do you want to steer your rocket in the future?

The future of astronomy promises to be ripe with rich datasets that will hold the potential to transform our understanding of the universe. My future career goals are to work at the interface of data science and astronomy.

If you were not an astronomer, what would you be?

A cricketer!

A book that shook your worldview?

Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond

If you’ve had a bad day at work, you will….

Switch-off and take a break to unwind either by talking to my friends, playing games or binge watching something.