This is my old website. New website: https://www.saptarshibandyopadhyay.com/

Hi! I am Saptarshi Bandyopadhyay from India. My name means seven saints, which refers to the Big Dipper constellation. I was born in West Bengal, India but my family moved to Mumbai, India when I was very young. As a young kid, I studied in Fr. Agnel Multipurpose School and Junior College at Vashi. I always participated in extra-curricular events and won a number of prizes. After securing a good score results in the 10th standard board examinations, I moved to Swami Vivekandand Junior College at Chembur.

During the years of 11th and 12th standard, I prepared for the IIT JEE, which is arguably the toughest entrance test in the world. I pursued Aerospace Engineering at Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IITB), India. I graduated with my BTech and MTech Degree in August 2010. My research interests are in dynamics and controls, multi-agent and networked systems, systems engineering and research related to networks in general.

I was the Project Manager and Systems Engineer for Pratham, IITB Student Satellite Project. I co-founded the project during my third year at IITB in August 2007. After my graduation, I deferred my PhD offers for a year to continue working as a Research Assistant on the Pratham Project. I hope to see my Satellite in the sky soon!

During my 12th standard, I also represented India at the IX International Astronomy Olympiad held at Ukraine and won Gold for the country. Along with research and astronomy, I like robotics and making things. In IITB, I got involved in technical activities right from my first week. The transformation of seemingly lifeless motors, gears, rods, and pulleys into moving robots that can do useful stuff enthralls me. It’s a very pure form of joy which I get out of these activities!

I pursued my PhD at Department of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) under the supervision of Prof. Soon-Jo Chung. I learned a lot in this temple of knowledge, both within my field and in outside topics. No wonder UIUC is called the Mecca of controls, because the level of talks, lectures, presentations is just mind blowing! During the summers of 2013 and 2014, I did internships at Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Caltech. I feel extremely lucky to be a part of this atmosphere and I hope to do the best with the opportunities available to me. 🙂

After my PhD, I pursued a short PostDoc at UIUC, followed by a long PostDoc at JPL under the supervision of Dr. Amir Rahmani. Amir is an awesome mentor and one of the kindest people I know of. It was a pleasure to work alongside Amir, Dr. Jean-Pierre de la Croix, and many other who make JPL one of the best institutions in the world! I feel extremely lucky to be a part of this atmosphere and I hope to do the best with the opportunities available to me. 🙂

Recently, I got a job at JPL as a Robotics Technologist in Dr. Adrian Stoica‘s group (347E)! I am looking forward to an exciting adventure at JPL! I feel extremely lucky to be a part of this atmosphere and I hope to do the best with the opportunities available to me! 🙂