The CAS PIFI (Chinese Academy of Sciences President’s International Fellowship Initiative) is a prestigious fellowship program that provides funding for talented international researchers to conduct research in China. I joined CAS’s Shanghai Astronomical Observatory (SHAO) as a postdoc for the Muti-Channel Imager (MCI) Chinese Space Station Telescope (CSST) project in November 2019. I received the CAS PIFI during my first year of postdoc at SHAO. I was excited after getting the news from my supervisor about my selection for the CAS PIFI fellowship. It was a great honor and an exciting opportunity for me to conduct research in China and contribute to the scientific community.

I am very grateful for all the support that CAS has extended to me during my tenure at SHAO. SHAO is a renowned CAS institute for distinguished astrophysicists. Many experts from different fields of astronomy are working at the observatory. My supervisor, Professor Zheng Zhenya, is an expert in cosmology and high-redshift galaxies. He is the PI of the MCI instrument on the CSST mission. He is always very kind, friendly, and dedicated in supporting his students in every possible way. I deeply appreciate how he has continuously encouraged and guided me over the last three years, and he has motivated me to get involved in many different collaborations. SHAO has enabled me to focus on my research career in a good environment with excellent facilities. SHAO has access to different telescope observations, and I was able to utilize data from the Lijiang observatory to enrich my research. In addition, I obtained telescope time with the Himalayan Chandra telescope and Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (UVIT) to conduct my research. In 2022, I received an award for excellent performance as a post-doctorate at SHAO.

Living in China for three years was the longest time I had spent in a foreign country. I found Shanghai to be a fascinating and vibrant place to experience modern Chinese culture, with endless prospects for work, leisure, and lifestyle due to it being an international hub. Shanghai’s impressive infrastructure, including its efficient transportation system, linking key cities and regions using high-speed trains, subways, and buses, along with advanced features like cashless payments and online shopping, contributed to my admiration. Moreover, Shanghai is the safest city I have ever experienced. Despite the language barrier, I could use translation apps to do things independently and became skilled at online shopping on Taobao (an online shopping platform). I received generous support from different people in China, especially in translating Chinese to English in my academic and daily life. What I enjoyed most about living in China was its rich and ancient culture and the friendly and helpful people. However, the language barrier was a challenge, and I wished I could have interacted more with locals and learned more about their culture. I was surprised to see how active elderly people are here; most of the grannies are very active, dancing in the parks, and grandpas are very active in photography. During my stay, I had the opportunity to meet and learn from many talented photographers, which significantly improved my photography skills.

As an astronomer, I am mostly interested in deciphering the fundamental paths of galaxy formation and evolution. In particular, I have spent most of my research years focusing on star formation in galaxies using UVIT onboard Astrosat (India’s first multi-wavelength observatory). Within this topic, I have participated in several projects with international scientists by exploiting various multi-wavelength (UV-Infrared) observations and techniques. During my work at SHAO, I became an active member in the JPAS (Javalambre Physics of the Accelerating Universe Astrophysical Survey) Brazil-Spain-China collaboration. My research group, led by Professor Zheng, works on diverse projects on the Lyman-alpha (Lyα) galaxies in the high-redshift Universe, where my work focuses on the study of extended Lyα emission in the vicinity of high-redshift QSOs. My additional key interests include galaxy interactions, active galactic nuclei, and emission-line galaxies. During my PIFI postdoc period, I have published a total of 10 papers. Our most important work was on the detection of double-core Lyα morphology in two high redshift quasars in mini-JPAS images. These are rare objects and could offer insight into the evolution of the circumgalactic medium and massive galaxies in the early Universe. We published these results in Astronomy & Astrophysics.

The CAS PIFI is among the best funding initiatives for young foreign researchers. I expect future collaboration with CAS institutes, as this program has been successful in attracting high-quality international talent to do research in China. Through the CAS PIFI, researchers have access to state-of-the-art research facilities and equipment, as well as the opportunity to work with leading experts in their field. I express my sincere gratitude to CAS for the opportunity to work at an esteemed CAS institution and for their financial support. Despite its challenges, my time in China was rewarding and eye-opening, and served as a significant turning point in both my professional and personal life.

Source: Rahna Payyasseri Thanduparackal,

Shanghai Astronomical Observatory,

Chinese Academy of Sciences