Gargi Shaw
Email: gargishaw@gmail.com
Phone: 91-22-26500837

Academic qualifications:
Ph.D. in Physics and Astronomy
*University of Kentucky, USA: (July, 2005)
Master of Science in Physics
*University of Kentucky, USA (2001)
Master of Science in Physics
*Visva-Bharati, India (1995)
Honors Bachelor of Science in Physics
*Visva-Bharati, India (1993)

Research Interest:
Computational astrophysics (Quantitative spectroscopy, PDR, and Quasar absorption lines)

Understanding the chemical evolution of the universe, from the nearby low-luminosity star-forming regions within our galaxy to the highest redshift and most luminous galaxies, is a major goal in current astrophysics. Most of our understanding of the chemical and physical evolution of the universe comes from the detailed analysis of the observed spectrum produced by interstellar gas. Interstellar matter is far from equilibrium and numerical simulations are the best way to decipher the message in the spectrum. The physical state of a non-equilibrium gas is determined by the underlying microphysics and the external environment, mainly the radiation field striking the gas. As a result, the gas properties and its observed spectrum are sensitive to atomic and molecular rate coefficients, composition and density of the gas, and to the sources of energy that enter the region. Due to complicity of these large degrees of freedom, no analytical solutions are possible and a numerical approach is the only option.
My research interest mainly focuses on molecular astrophysics/molecular chemistry in star-forming regions from local to high- redshift universe. I use the most commonly used numerical code CLOUDY (http://www.nublado.org) to decipher the astrophysical spectra and to understand the underlying physical processes comprehensively. I am greatly involved with the development of the spectral simulation code CLOUDY and I have several collaborators in India and USA

Positions:
Faculty, Centre for Excellence in Basic Science, UM- DAE, Kalina Campus, Mumbai- 400 098 (January 2010- present)
Post Doctoral Scholar, Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, TIFR (January 2008-December 2009)
Post Doctoral Scholar, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Kentucky (August 2005-August 2007)

Selected publications:
1. Molecular Hydrogen in Star-forming regions: implementation of its micro-physics in Cloudy: Shaw, G., Ferland,
G. J., Abel, N. P., Stancil, P. C., van Hoof, P. A. M. 2005, ApJ, 624, 794
2.  The HII region/PDR connection: Self-consistent calculations in star forming regions: Abel, N. P., Ferland, G. J.,
Shaw, G., van Hoof, P. A. M. 2005, ApJs, 161, 65
3. The VLT-UVES survey for molecular hydrogen in high-redshift damped Lyman-α systems: Physical conditions in the
DLAs: Srianand, R., Petitjean, P., Ledoux, C., Ferland, G. J., Shaw, G. 2005, MNRAS, 362, 549
4. Physical Conditions in Orion's Veil: Abel, N. P., Brogan, C. L., Ferland, G. J., O'Dell, C. R., Shaw, G., Troland, 
T. H. 2004, ApJ, 609, 247A
5. A Magnetically Supported Photodissociation Region in M17: Pellegrini, E. W.,  Baldwin, J. A., Brogan, 
C. L., Hanson, M. M., Abel, N. P., Ferland, G. J., Nemala, H. B., Shaw, G., Troland, T. H.2007, ApJ, 658,1119
6. Physical Conditions in Orion's Veil. II. A Multicomponent Study of the Line of Sight toward the Trapezium: Abel, 
N. P., Ferland, G. J., O'Dell, C. R., Shaw, G., Troland, T. H. 2006, ApJ, 644, 344 
7. Physical conditions in the ISM towards HD1854118: Shaw, G., Ferland, G. J., Srianand, R., Abel, N. P. 2006,
ApJ, 639,941
8. Ultraviolet Survey of CO and H2 in Diffuse Molecular Clouds: The Reflection of Two Photochemistry Regimes in
Abundance Relationships: Sheffer, Y., Rogers, M., Federman, S. R., Abel, N. P., Gredel, R., Lambert, D. L., &
Shaw, G. 2008, ApJ, 687, 1075
9.Hydrostatic pressure effects on the magnetic susceptibility of ruthenium oxide Sr3Ru2O7: evidence for pressure
-enhanced antiferromagnetic instability, Yuri V. Sushko, Bruno DeHarak, Gang Cao, G. Shaw, D.K. Powell, and
J.W. Brill 2004, Solid State Commun. 130, 341
10. Orion's Bar: Physical Conditions Across the Definitive H+/H0/H2 Interface: Pellegrini, E. W., Baldwin,
J. A., Ferland, G. J., Shaw, G., Heathcote, S. 2009, ApJ, 693,  285
11. Sensitivity of PDR Calculations to Microphysical Details: Abel, N. P., Hoof, P. A. M. van, Shaw, G., Ferland, 
G. J., Elwert, T. 2008, ApJ, 686, 1125
12. On the enhanced cosmic-ray ionization rate in the diffuse cloud towards Zeta Persei: Shaw, Gargi, Ferland, 
G. J., Srianand, R., Abel, N. P., van Hoof, P. A. M., Stancil, P. C. 2008, ApJ, 675,405
13. Merged ionization/dissociation fronts in planetary nebulae: Henney, William J., Williams, R. J. R., Ferland, 
Gary J., Shaw, Gargi, O'Dell, C. R. 2007, ApJL, 671, 137
14. Molecular Hydrogen in the diffuse interstellar medium at high redshift: Srianand, R., Shaw, G., Ferland,
G. J., Petitjean, P., Ledoux, C. 2005 (astro-ph/0506556)
15. Rotational Quenching Rate Coefficients for H2 in Collisions with H2 from 2 to 10,000 K: Lee, T.-G., Balakrishnan, 
N., Forrey, R. C., Stancil, P. C., Shaw, G., Schultz, D. R., Ferland, G. J. 2008, ApJ, 689, 1105
16. Rotationally Warm Molecular Hydrogen in the Orion Bar: Gargi Shaw, G. J. Ferland, W. J. Henney, P. C. Stancil,
N. P. Abel, E.W. Pellegrini6, J.A. Baldwin, & P. A. M. van Hoof 2009, ApJ ,701, 677