About

Dr Aryasree Sudharaj is an atmospheric scientist holding a PhD in Physics from Cochin University of Science & Technology. She has worked as a Research Fellow and Associate at the Space Physics Laboratory, Indian Space Research Organisation, Thiruvananthapuram (2010–2018), and subsequently as Associate Research Scientist/Lecturer at the Institute of Applied Geosciences (IAG), Technical University of Darmstadt.

Her research centres on the chemistry, morphology, and radiative properties of atmospheric aerosols, with particular expertise in desert dust transport and transformation. Dr Sudharaj’s work spans a wide geographic range — from the Sahara and Sahel dust sources to the Eastern Mediterranean, the Caribbean, and the Indian subcontinent — reflecting her involvement in major international field campaigns such as ASKOS (Cabo Verde), SALTRACE, JATAC2022, and ICARB. Her core skill set includes radiative analysis, aerosol chemistry, air sampling, chromatography, ICP-MS, environmental scanning electron microscopy, and single-particle analysis techniques. At TU Darmstadt, she taught graduate/postgraduate courses in aerosol physics and instrumentation.

Before relocating to Germany in 2018, she did her PhD research at the Indian Space Research Organisation’s Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre in Thiruvananthapuram, India, where she conducted research on aerosol size distributions, chemical composition, and radiative characteristics over Indian coastal and marine environments, including the Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea.

She has collaborated extensively with researchers across institutions and research centers across Europe and various Indian research bodies, publishing in journals such as Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, Journal of Geophysical Research Geophysical Research Letters, and Royal Society Open Science. She is also a member of various research societies including the Aerosol society, the COST Association, European Geophysical Union etc.

Beyond research and teaching she enjoys music, crocheting and going on nature walks and hikes.

Research – Research interests and plans

• Atmospheric Absorbing pollutants: Characterizing the physical, chemical and optical properties of particulate matter (Black carbon (BC), Brown carbon (Br-C), mineral dust) and gaseous (SO2, NO2 etc.) species.
• Analytical Workflows: Utilizing advanced air sampling techniques alongside spectroscopic and microscopic analysis for regional pollutant morphology and chemistry assessments.
• AI and Predictive modeling: Developing future frameworks to integrate AI classification pipelines for automated source identification and pollution forecasting.

Publications – Academic and popular publications (if any)

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Aryasree-Sudharaj?ev=hdr_xprf

https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=OLED3Q0AAAAJ

Teaching Modules – Courses/modules offered

• Introduction to atmospheric science
• Engaging with the environment
• Environmental chemistry