Sandip Mazumder, professor and associate chair of administration, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, College of Engineering, has been awarded a Fulbright U.S. Scholar Award to research “Greenhouse Gases, Radiation, and Global Warming: Modules for Education and Research” from January-May 2025. With the Fulbright-Kalam Climate Fellowship, Mazumder will collaborate with the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in Bengaluru, India, on a project that increases awareness of global warming and its causes.
Mazumder’s project is targeted toward students in engineering whose understanding of global warming is limited because it is primarily informed by media and news platforms. “Since the engineering workforce will ultimately play a major role in mitigating global warming and climate change, it is imperative that they are exposed to this topic at a deeper level than basic media coverage,” explains Mazumder.
The objective of his project is to create and deploy two compact education and research modules that will enable students at the early postgraduate (PG) level in science and engineering in India and the United States to answer the following questions using rigorous scientific axioms and analysis: (1) what is the exact relationship between greenhouse gas concentration in the atmosphere and the Earth’s temperature? (2) Why is the increasing concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere of grave concern from a global warming perspective? (3) Why is water vapor (H2O), which is also a major greenhouse gas, considered benign by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)? (4) Is methane (CH4) of significant concern?
“This Fulbright project will enable me to serve as a liaison between climate scientists and engineers and between the U.S. and Indian institutions of higher education. A project that increases awareness of global warming and its causes, particularly amongst the future workforce in both India and the U.S., is beneficial to both countries – especially because the U.S. and India are ranked second and third among the highest carbon dioxide producing countries,” notes Mazumder.
As part of his efforts to raise climate change awareness, Mazumder has also written a play, “1.5 Degree.” The play has received accolades and is scheduled to be staged in Columbus in November at the Abbey Theater in Dublin.
To learn more about Mazumder’s research visit the Fluids and Thermal Analysis Laboratory (FATAL).
Fulbright Program
For more information about the Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program, visit fulbright.osu.edu or contact Joanna Kukielka-Blaser.