Chakrabarty’s research group addresses grand challenges associated with complex environmental systems while working at the forefront of fundamental aerosol science and engineering.
Some of those challenges include those associated with radiative forcing by carbonaceous aerosols as well as researching the environmental determinants of infectious disease transmission and the effectiveness of non-pharmaceutical containment strategies.
Chakrabarty joined the faculty at Washington University in St. Louis in 2014. His research contributions have been recognized with several prestigious honors, most notably the 2019 Kenneth T. Whitby award (AAAR); 2019 Schmauss award (GAeF); 2018 American Geophysical Union (AGU) Global Environmental Change Early Career award; the 2017 Richard M. Goody award by the electromagnetic light scattering and remote sensing community; and a 2015 NSF CAREER award.
Research from the lab of Rajan Chakrabarty in the McKelvey School of Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis has found a close relationship between certain pollutants and the spread of COVID-19 through the United States.
Modeling from the McKelvey School of Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis shows how social distancing could have better been implemented. The key? Longer periods of distancing would have helped — but only to a point. More needed to be done.
Aerosol research at the McKelvey School of Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis is working at breakneck speed to understand the novel coronavirus and its effects at scales ranging from ecosystems to virus particles suspended in droplets.
Researchers at the McKelvey School of Engineering spent two weeks in India cooking with local residents. They found that soot wasn’t the only worrisome byproduct of traditional cookstoves; organic carbons are causing problems, too.
Using aerosols as ground truth, researchers at the McKelvey School of Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis have developed a deep learning method that accurately simulates chaotic trajectories — from the spread of poisonous gas to the path of foraging animals.