Sumathi Rao

Sumathi Rao (born December 5, 1956) is an Indian theoretical physicist and professor at Harish-Chandra Research Institute working in the field of condensed matter physics.[1][2] She is a former member of women in physics promotion of International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP) from 2000 to 2008.

Sumathi Rao
Born (1956-12-05) 5 December 1956
NationalityIndian
Alma mater
Spouse(s)Ashoke Sen
Awards
Scientific career
FieldsCondensed Matter Physics Quantum Field Theory
Institutions
Websitehttp://www.hri.res.in/~sumathi/

Education

Rao earned her Bachelor of Science degree in physics from Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda in 1977 and Master of Science degree in physics from Indian Institute of Technology Mumbai with distinction in 1979. She worked on Neutrino Oscillations during her Masters. She received her doctoral degree entitled B-L violation in grand unified theories from Stony Brook University, US under the supervision of Robert Shrock in 1983.[1][3]

Research career

Rao did her PhD in high energy physics, particularly in the sub-field of grand unified theories. After her postdocs at Fermilab and at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, she joined the Institute of Physics, Bhubaneswar in 1987.[4][5] But she made a crucial decision to shift her field of research to theoretical condensed matter physics from high energy physics, when she found that her achievements were belittled, and her work and papers referred to her husband Ashoke Sen working on the same field.[6] This decision was not so easy for her, since a lot of her training in high energy physics and contacts abroad would no longer be useful and she would have to start all over again.[7]

She is currently a condensed matter systems Professor at the Harish-Chandra Research Institute (HRI) and have been there since 1995.[8] She has been working in the area of electronic transport in quantum wires, quantum dots and in the field of correlated mesoscopic physics in low dimensions.[9][10]

She also worked as an Associate scientist at International Centre for Theoretical Sciences (ICTS), a centre of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research and at the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP), Trieste.[1][11]

Women in science promotion

Rao has always been vocal about the detrimental biases faced by women academic scholars. Rao's scientific contributions were undervalued with innuendos that her husband, also a famous scientist in the same field, wrote her papers for her.[12][13] She has involved in the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP) working group women in physics which has been working to increase the representation of women in physics, particularly at higher and decisionmaking levels of from its inception in 2000 until 2008.[14]

She wrote articles focusing on the topic of getting girls interested in a career in science or engineering and interested in reaching the top of their profession, the hurdles they will have to face, and the ways to improve their chances of making it to the top of respective fields.[12][15][16]

Fellowships and awards

Rao has been awarded as Fellow of National Academy of Sciences, India in 2001 and Fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences in 2017 for her contributions in the theoretical condensed matter physics.[4][17][18]

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References
  1. "Physics Faculty". www.hri.res.in. Retrieved 2020-05-27.
  2. "Fellowship | Indian Academy of Sciences". www.ias.ac.in. Retrieved 2020-05-27.
  3. Rao, S. S. (1983). "(B-L)-violation in grand unified theories". Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  4. "Indian Academy of Sciences talk page of Sumathi Rao".
  5. "Research Associates (Postdocs) | Theoretical Physics Department". Retrieved 2020-05-28.
  6. "India's million-dollar scientist". BBC News. 2012-08-08. Retrieved 2020-06-05.
  7. "Overcoming fear and forging ahead" (PDF). Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  8. "Sumathi Rao | Perimeter Institute". www.perimeterinstitute.ca. Retrieved 2020-06-03.
  9. "Sumathi Rao". www.hri.res.in. Retrieved 2020-06-03.
  10. "INSPIRE". inspirehep.net. Retrieved 2020-06-03.
  11. "ICTS Associates".
  12. IndSciComm (2017-05-19). "Women in Science". IndSciComm. Retrieved 2020-05-27.
  13. Rao, Sumathi (1999). "Women scientists: A contradiction in terms?". Current Science. 76 (1): 24–26. ISSN 0011-3891.
  14. "IUPAP Working Group on Women in Physics". wgwip.df.uba.ar. Retrieved 2020-06-03.
  15. Godbole, Rohini M. (2005). "Women in Physics in India, 2005". AIP Conference Proceedings. Rio de Janeiro (Brazil): AIP. 795: 129–130. doi:10.1063/1.2128297.
  16. Rao, Sumathi; Adams, Jenni; Andam, Aba; Frederiksen, Ashild; Gupte, Neelima; Gyanchandani, Jyoti; Hooijer, Christa; O’Brien, John; Saeta, Peter (2002-08-20). "Topic 1: Attracting Girls Into Physics". AIP Conference Proceedings. 628 (1): 9–12. doi:10.1063/1.1505270. ISSN 0094-243X.
  17. "Fellowship | Indian Academy of Sciences". www.ias.ac.in. Retrieved 2020-05-28.
  18. "Vidwan | Profile Page". vidwan.inflibnet.ac.in. Retrieved 2020-05-28.
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