Prof. Asok K Sen

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Personal Info

Date of birth
November 07, 1951
Contact Information
Permanent Address:Condensed Matter Physics (CMP) Group
Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics (SINP)
1/AF Bidhannagar, Kolkata 700 064, INDIA
Ph. No.: +91-033-2337-0379 ext.2445
Fax No.: +91-033-2337-4637
e-mail: asokk[dot]sen[at]saha[dot]ac[dot]in


Interest
Statistical/ Condensed Matter Physics (Theory), Electronic Structure and Transport, Non-Hermitean hamiltonians, Quantum Coherence/ Decoherence, Q. Phase Transitions, Critical Phenomena, Wetting Transitions, Disordered/ Interacting Low-dimensional Systems, Wetting Transitions, Soft-condensed Matter, Nonlinear Response, Breakdown, Non-Debye (Power-law) Relaxation, Hysteresis, 1/f-noise etc. in Complex Systems, Numerical Methods.

Career

Education

  • 1975      M.Sc. (Applied Mathematics) Jadavpur University, Kolkata, India
  • 1982      M.S. (Physics) Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
  • 1985      Ph.D. (Physics) Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
Employment
  • 1985 - 1986 Visiting Scientist, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA
  • 1986 - 1988 Post-doctoral fellow, N.C. State Univ., Raleigh, NC, USA
  • 1988 - 1989 Post-doctoral fellow, Univ. of Houston, TX, USA
  • 1989 - 1993 Reader, SINP, Kolkata, India
  • 1993 - 1998 Assoc. Professor, SINP, Kolkata, India
  • 1998 - 2007 Professor 'F', SINP, Kolkata, India
  • 2007 - to date Professor 'G', SINP, Kolkata, India
Short-Term Visits
  • 1992, 1995 : Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
  • 1991, 1994 : University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA
  • 1983 : Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN, USA
  • 1995, 1997-2003: A.S. Int. Centre for Theor. Phys., Trieste, Italy
  • 2004 (May-July): Visiting Prof., Dept. Phys., NTNU, Trondheim, Norway

Awards and Distinctions

  • Elected a SENIOR ASSOCIATE of the A.S. International Centre for Theor. Physics (AS-ICTP), Trieste, Italy, for 6 years (1998 - 2003)

  • Our proposed semi-classical percolation model, called the RRTN (Random Resistor cum Tunneling-bond Network) model, received quite reasonable recognitions (as may be noted from the number of invited/ contributed talks myself and my students have delivered (with accolades, sometimes). The model enjoys a modest number of citations as well.

  • Just completed the final contract with Springer, Heidelberg (dt. 10.07.07 copy of the letter attached herewith), on the publishing agreement for a an edited LNP (Lecture Notes in Physics volume, including one chapter on various aspects of our RRTN model) named "Quantum Percolation and Breakdown" in Disordered Solids."

  • Earlier, the breakdown-phenomena in the same RRTN model found its place in an ADVANCED TEXT-BOOK : "Statistical Physics of Fracture and Breakdown in Disordered Solids", authored by B.K. Chakrabarti and L.G. Benguigui (Oxford Univ. Press, Oxford, 1997). It was mostly on the 'kind' insis- tence of the authors, particularly Prof. L.G. Benguigui (from Israel), that I wrote two pages on 'Dielectric Breakdown in RRTN' for the book.

  • Our Non-equilibrium dynamic study on our RRTN model (Two Early Power-Law Relaxation Dynamics) got high acclaim from two anonymous referees of the 'Europhys. Lett.' The Referee-B indicated that this work should be seminal: "The work is of interest, and should lead to theoretical attempts to explain the results in detail" (#55, my publication list).

  • On the quantum disordered chain issue, our work on the "Resonance Structure of a Random Dimer Model" (our Pub. #23), got 26 citations, so far. Awarded an Indo-Ukrainian Research Project on "Electronic Transport in Low-Dim. Meso/ Nano-sized Quantum Systems" as Principal Invest. (2001). An outcome of this collaboration has finally been written as a paper, submitted for publication (#58, in my Pub. list) in 2006.

  • Conducted Viva-voce Examinations of four Ph.D. Theses in 2002 - 2003 (for details, see under 'Research Guidance', on p.3 of this CV).

  • Was invited (special request by the Emeritus Professor, Prof. Jamal Nazrul Islam) to deliver the 'Keynote Address' in the inaugural session of the 2nd. Chittagong Conference on the 'History, Foundations and Philosophy of the Sciences' at the Research Centre for Mathematical and Physical Sciences, Univ of Chittagong, Bangladesh (Janu.12, 2005) Advisory Committee of the Jagadis Bose National Science Talent Search (co-opted by its Dir., Prof. Papiya Nandy, in 2001)

  • Member of the referee panel of the Phys. Rev. Lett., Phys. Rev. B, Int. J. of Mod. Phys. B, `Pramana' (Bangalore), Ind. J. Phys. (Kolkata) etc.

  • Served in many Interview Boards (external to the SINP; e.g., SN Bose Ctr for Basic Sc., Ind. Statistical Inst, Ind. Assoc. for the Cultvn. of Sci.) for selecting Research Fellows, Post-docs (CSIR, DST) etc.

  • Selected as a Senior TPSC (Theoretical Physics Seminar Circuit) speaker, sponsored by S.N. Bose National Centre for Basic Sciences, Kolkata, India (1991 - 1993, 1995 - 1997)

  • Guest editor of the "Indian Journal of Physics" for two (refereed) Proceedings of the "Condensed Matter Days" in 1994 and in 1997

  • Had been a zonal (Kolkata Chapter) Council Member of the Indian Physics Association (IPA), Mumbai, India (1997 - 1999)

  • Elected as a Member of the Council of the Indian Physical Society (IPS), Kolkata (1999 - 2000)

  • Member of the Editorial Board of the "Physics Teachers," which is a publication of the IPS, aimed towards the High School/ College students/ teachers (1998 - 2002)

  • Member of the Board of Associate Editors of the "Indian Journal of Physics" which publishes peer-reviewed research level works, and is run by the Indian Physical Society (IPS), Kolkata (1999 - Dec., 2002)

  • Member of the Board of Editors of the "Indian Journal of Physics", Kolkata (January, 2003 to date)

  • Member of the National Advisory and the Central Organising Committee of the Annual Workshop named "Condensed Matter Days" (1994 to date)

  • Selected a recipient (for SINP Lib) of the TWAS-ICTP Book-Don. Program.

Teaching

    Undergrad (recitation and lab) Teaching Associate; Grader of Advanced (Grad) level Physics courses at the Ohio St Univ., USA (1979 - 1985)

    SINP Post-M.Sc. Diploma - Taught Advanced Topics of Condens Matt/Stat Phys courses at the SINP, Kolkata (1990 - 1995, 1997 - 1999, 2003)

    Supervisor of Post M.Sc. `Review' works (two in 1996, one in 2001)

    Undergrad lecturer - Physics for Liberal Arts/Science majors, Univ. of North Florida, USA (my Sabbatical/ Study Leave year, 1994 - 1995)

    `Summer Students' (External) Program - GUIDED two M.Sc. Pt.I students: from IIT, Kanpur (1994), and the Univ. of Pune (1996). Their STUDIES were planned and DID lead to refereed publications (Pub. #37 and #41)

    One Post-M.Sc. Colloquium: Presented a pedagogic lecture on critical phenomena, the scaling regime, universality of the critical exponents near the criticality, the Renormalization group etc. with examples of the percolation phenomenon (April, 2005).

    SINP Post-M.Sc. Diploma - Taught Advanced Topics on a "Computational Physics" course at the SINP, Kolkata (2006-07)

    SINP Post-M.Sc. Diploma - Teaching jointly a core course on "Mathematical Methods of Physics" at the SINP, Kolkata (2007-08)

Research guidance

    Successfully guided a student towards a Ph.D. degree in Physics (Dr. A. Kar Gupta; thesis submitted in 1997; degree recd. in 1998; Lecturer in a College at Panskura since 2000/2001.

    Next, guided Mr. Somnath Bhattacharya towards a Ph.D. degree since 2001; thesis submitted in August, 2006; Lecturer at Darjeeling Government College, since early 2007.

    Also, guided two SINP-Summer Program students (see `Teaching Experience')

    Examined the following Ph.D. theses:
      (i) 'Multicomponent Random Alloys - A Theoretical Study' by Mr. Biplab Sanyal (Supervisor: Prof. Abhijit Mookerjee, S.N. Bose National Centre for Basic Sciences, Kolkata) in 2002.
      (ii) 'Electronic Structure and Magnetism in Disordered Transition Metal Alloys: A Theoretical Study' by Mr. Subhradip Ghosh (Supervisor: Prof. Abhijit Mookerjee, S.N. Bose National Centre for Basic Sci., Kolkata) in 2002.
      (iii) 'Molecular Study of Equilibrium and Transport Properties of Fluids' by Mr. Bimal Prasad Karki (Supervisor: Prof. S.K. Sinha, B. R. Ambedkar Bihar University, Muzzafarpur, Bihar) in 2002.
      (iv) 'Ionic Conductivity and Relaxation Dynamics in some Heavy Metal-Oxide Glasses' by Mr. Arvind Pan (Supervisor: Dr. Aswini Ghosh, Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science, Kolkata) in 2003.


    Currently supervising on one external research programme with Mr. Shubhankar Mozumdar, a Senior Physics teacher of the South Point School, Kolkata, on the basis of mutual interest and with the understanding of no financial responsibility from the SINP side.

Organizational Activities

    One-year Post-M.Sc. Diploma Program of the SINP
      (i) Member of the Written/Oral Exam. Board (many times since 1990)
      (ii) Member of the Teaching Committee during 1991 - 1993, 1997 - 1999
      (iii) Co-ordinator of Adv. Cond. Matt. Phys. courses; 1991 - 1993, 1998


    Secretary/Organizer of SINP's weekly Colloquia during 1996 - 2000.

    Member of the Organizing Committee of an Indo-French Workshop on "Non-linearity and Breakdown in Soft-Condensed Matter" held at the SINP, Kolkata, during December 1 - 9, 1993.

    Convenor of an Workshop on "Current Trends in Condensed Matter Physics" held at the Saha Institute, Kolkata, during August 9 - 10, 1994

    Member of the Editorial Board (support from the CMP-group, and the SINP weely Colloquia Secy.) of the Annual Report of the SINP from 1996- 97, 1997-98, 1998-99 and 1999-2000.

    Convenor of the Divisional Computer Committee (1991 - '95).

Affiliation

    Indian Physics Association, Mumbai (life member)

    Indian Physical Society, Kolkata (life member)

    DAE Solid State Physics Symposium, Organizing Committee Member (1998-99)

    Advisory Committee of the JBNSTS (Jagadis Bose National Science Talent Search) for future directions (2001)

    Indian Mathematical Society (2004 - '05)