I am a fifth-year Ph.D. candidate from India. I work with Prof. Hema Somanathan at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Thiruvananthapuram (IISER TVM). My research broadly focuses on the areas of sensory ecology and neuroethology of bats where my Ph.D. thesis concerns in understanding the visual ecology of frugivorous bats in southern India. I have experience in field-based behavioral observations, captive experiments and anatomical procedures involving bats.

Before joining IISER TVM, I worked in Prof. G. Marimuthu’s lab at the Department of Animal Behaviour and Physiology, Madurai Kamaraj University for my masters’ dissertation. My work there focussed on understanding the role of chemical communication in the social behavior of the greater short-nosed fruit bat Cynopterus sphinx.

In addition to my research, I am interested in science communication and writing popular science articles. I am a part-time science writer and a translator in Research Matters – a scicomm forum focussing on research-based stories and news articles in the Indian media. My other interests include reading Tamil literature and studying Indian temple architecture.