ankit raj profile image Ankit Raj

Paleobiology lab
Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Koklata


Hi, I am a postgraduate student, I am interested in understanding the patterns in Paleoecology and the driving processes. During my MS Project, I tried to understand the patterns of ecological diversification in Marine invertebrates in the aftermath of the Permian- Triassic mass extinction and in the advent of Marine Mesozoic Revolution (MMR). Apart from this, I have keen interest in Conservation Paleobiology.
When I am not in the lab or fieldwork, you would find me on the Athletics ground, in the drama room, dance club or sharing my passion for Geology to the general public in Outreach events.

Research

Work in Paleobiology Lab:

Patterns of Ecospace Utilization in Marine Invertebrates During the  Mesozoic

Constructed a multivariate ecospace with functional traits.  

Simulated theoretical mesozoic invertebrates’ ecospace according to general models of ecological diversification- Non driven model: neutral model, driven Model: redundancy, partitioning and expansion model, calculated functional diversity metrics to for each models and used machine learning to classify which model best explains the empirical patterns in the Mesozoic. After finding the patterns I tried to correlate with causal processes behind.

  • Manuscript is in preparation
  • R  - Parallel computing  - Machine learning  

Work in Environmental Science:

 Explored techniques to detect microplastics in oceans using Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) Spectroscopy and Near Infrared (NIR) spectroscopy.

Analyzed methods to develop highly concentrated suspensions of silver nanoparticles.

Used Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry for elemental identification.

Work in Quantum Computation:  

Simulated Quantum Bomb Detection using IBM quantum computer.

Designed a quantum circuit for Elitzur and Vaidman Experiment, interaction-free measurement.

Teaching

   Teaching Assistant, Paleontology laboratory; 3rd year course (11 Students)

   Teaching Assistant, Earth System Processes; 1st year course (200 students)

   Teaching Assistant, Earth and Planetary Sciences; 1st year course (200 students)

Field work

Paleontology and Stratigraphy fieldwork, West Coast of India

  • Images Coral, bivalves

Structural Geology Fieldwork

  • Images

Outreach

25th Kalyani Book Fair (03-12-21 to 14-12-21)                    

Indian National Exhibition Cum Fair 2022, Patuli (04-08-22 to 08-08-22)                    

21st National Space Science Symposium (NSSS),Science City, Kolkata (6-12-22 to 11-12-22)            National Science Day (28-2-23)