Dr Moumita Aich to be head of WAADD
- Wits Science
Dr Moumita Aich is set to assume the new role of Head of the Wits Anglo American Digital Dome (WAADD) as of 01 July 2024.
The WAADD, formerly the WITS Planetarium, is under active re-development as a high-tech, multi-disciplinary digital research and innovation facility hosted by the School of Physics, Faculty of Science. The Digital Dome will support the academic projects of teaching, research, innovation, postgraduate training, education, science engagement and community service. The WAADD will serve as a space for digital science exploration and discovery for data-intensive disciplines.
It is expected that under her leadership a thriving academic programme will develop, and the new facility will grow within an entrepreneurial context to ensure its future sustainability as an accessible, inspirational world-class centre.
Moumita is an astrophysicist who obtained her BSc in Physics from Presidency College, Kolkata, India and her MSc in Physics from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur, India. She completed her PhD in 2012 at the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA), Pune, India. One of her tasks would be to use WAADD as an immersive data visualization facility to encourage cross-disciplinary collaborations at Wits University beyond the planetarium’s traditional use for astronomy education.
Her research interests are theoretical and observational cosmology, currently focussed on neutral hydrogen intensity mapping, which uses emission from neutral hydrogen to build a three-dimensional map of the Universe. She also studies the cosmic microwave background (CMB), the remnant radiation from when the Universe began, which can help scientists piece together the history of the Universe.
She has worked as a postdoctoral research fellow, a research scientist, and a senior lecturer at the University of KwaZulu-Natal from 2013 – 2022, as well as a data scientist in industry. She has carried out extensive science outreach and popularisation activities in these various roles and looks forward to ensuring that the WAADD, apart from inspiring the next generation of scientists, is an iconic space where science, art, and culture intertwine.