Draft:Mamta Pandey-Pommier

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  • Comment: ChatGPT-generated sources. I'll let the reviewer decide if it warrants a decline GGOTCC 00:44, 13 September 2025 (UTC)
  • Comment: could be notable, needs references Ozzie10aaaa (talk) 17:04, 19 August 2025 (UTC)


Mamta Pandey-Pommier
Mamta Pommier, France 2025
NationalityFrench
Alma materUniversity of Montpellier-LUPM, Paris Sciences et Lettres University, Claude Bernard University Lyon 1-CRAL, University of Leiden, CEA Paris-Saclay, National Centre for Radio Astrophysics-Tata Institute of Fundamental Research
Known forAdvocacy for Gender balance in Astronomy, Radio Astronomy
SpouseFrench
Children2
Scientific career
FieldsRadio Astronomy, Square Kilometre Array, extragalactic
InstitutionsCatholic University of Lyon-University of Lyon
Thesis (Habilitation -Sep 2019, Ph. D -Jan, 2007)
Websitehttps://sites.google.com/view/mamta-pommier/home?authuser=0

Mamta Pandey-Pommier (born 1978, Bombay, India) is a French national and radio astronomer of Indian origin. She has been the Chair of the International Astronomical Union (IAU)'s Women in Astronomy (WiA) Working Group since September 2021. Since August 2022, she has been a Senior Lecturer (Maître d'Enseignement) in Physics at the Catholic University of Lyon (associated with the University of Lyon). Mamta is noted not only for her contributions to astronomy and astrophysics, including commissioning work on Square Kilometre Array (SKA)-pathfinders and multi-wavelength surveys on galaxy clusters and AGNs, but also for her work addressing gender inequality in astronomy, STEM, and higher education in general[1].

Early life and education

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Mamta completed her graduate studies at Bombay University, India and conducted her Ph.D. research (2003 − 2006) spending half of the period at the National Center for Radioastrophysics[2] India and the other half at the Commissariat à l'énergie atomique Saclay, France. Her thesis work on "Radio monitoring of high energy sources" used Giant Meterwave Radio Telescope data at frequencies down to 235 MHz[3].

Career (2006 − present)

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Mamta joined the LOFAR project at Leiden University, Netherlands as a LOFAR Commissioning post-doctorate from 2007 to 2009. One of the key achievements of her work was the development of the LOFAR imaging capabilities and system-sensitivity commissioning document. Based on this work, the LOFAR sensitivity calculator[4], an essential guide for the LOFAR user community when requesting observation time on the telescope, was written. From 2009 to 2020, while balancing family life and work Mamta advanced her research career at the Centre de Recherche Astrophysique de Lyon (CRAL)[5] France. During this time, she held various positions, including teaching (Non-Tenured Teaching and Research Fellow: Attaché Temporaire d'Enseignement et de Recherche (A.T.E.R.)) and volunteer researcher roles at the University Claude Bernard Lyon 1, a member of the University of Lyon, and a CNRS Category A researcher position. Her research work at CRAL was supported by a grant to her on "Radio properties of clusters and galaxy lenses". From 2018 to 2020, she worked on the commissioning of the NenuFAR Imager, a Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder in France operating below 85 MHz. She validated the data quality and worked on the commissioning of the NenuFAR imager data on a sample of bright clusters and AGNs under the "Science and Commissioning Project with the NenuFAR Imager"[6][7]. The NenuFAR telescope was officially inaugurated in 2019[8].

Since 2020, Mamta has been part of the faculty at the University of Lyon, initially joining as a Contractual Professor at the University Claude Bernard Lyon 1. She also held a CNRS Category A researcher position from 2021 to 2022 under a personal grant on "Gas inflows-outflows in galaxies in cluster environment"  hosted at the Montpellier Universe and Particles Laboratory[9]. She then moved to a Lecturer position in 2022 at the Catholic University of Lyon, holding that role until 2023. Starting in 2024, she assumed a Senior Lecturer position at the Catholic University of Lyon.

Advocacy for women's careers in astronomy and STEM

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Mamta has been a strong advocate for addressing gender inequality in astronomy and STEM fields, actively contributing through talks, mentoring sessions, workshops, and conferences focused on gender disparity in astronomy. In 2019, she was interviewed by the CNRS office at the University Claude Bernard Lyon 1, where she discussed the challenges and obstacles that she faced in developing her career in the field of low-frequency radio astronomy, as a mother and as a female astronomer[10]. Her image was featured in the poster 80 Femmes Scientifiques alongside other prominent female French scientists[11]. To further support these activities, Mamta founded the Society of Women Researchers at the University Claude Bernard Lyon 1, creating a supportive network for female researchers[12][13].

In 2021, she was appointed as the chair of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) Women in Astronomy Working Group )(WiA)[14] [15] [16][17][18][19][20]. In this capacity, she has been organizing events, talks, mentoring sessions, and workshops aimed at raising awareness about the challenges women face in astronomy and combating gender disparities. In a 2021 survey presented at the Europlanet Science Congress[21], Mamta highlighted concerning statistics, revealing that only 21.2% of IAU members were women and that participation in the Women in Astronomy group was as low as 1.6%. These figures were featured in the Europlanet magazine[22].

During the XXXII IAU General Assembly in Cape Town, South Africa in August 2024, with the IAU WiA Organizing Committee, she launched the inaugural "STEM Ambassador Recognition Award", which formally honors individuals for their outstanding contributions in promoting gender balance in the field for the first time in the IAU's history, since its founding in 1919[23].

Other activities

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Since 2021, Mamta has been a Member of the European Commission Expert Panel evaluating funding proposals in the fields of radio astronomy (including VLBI, LOFAR, SKA, EVN, etc.) and space science. She serves as an expert evaluator for proposals related to the development of large research infrastructures, research applications to industry, postdoctoral positions, and faculty exchange programs, both as a rapporteur and referee. Additionally, Mamta is a referee for high-impact journals, assessing publications in her field. From 2021 to 2024, she also served as a member of the IAU Division C Steering Committee (Education, Outreach, and Heritage), where she contributed to the evaluation of IAU meetings, best thesis awards, symposium proposals, and more[24].

Recognition and honors

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  • 2019, Women in Science reference figure by the CNRS office at the University Claude Bernard Lyon 1.[10]
  • 2019, Founder of the Society of Women Researchers at the University Claude Bernard Lyon 1.[10]
  • 2021, Elected as the chair of the IAU Women in Astronomy WG[14]
  • 2021, Member of the Expert Panel Team in Physical Sciences and Engineering for the European Commission[25]
  • 2024, Re-elected as the chair of the IAU Women in Astronomy WG[26]
  • 2024, Advisory committee member of the European Astronomical Society Equality and Inclusion WG[27]

References

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  1. ^ "Status of Women in Astronomy: Still a Long Way to Go". Europlanet.
  2. ^ "National Center for Radioastrophysics". www.ncra.tifr.res.in.
  3. ^ "Mamta Pandey-Pommier Publications". adsabs.harvard.edu.
  4. ^ "LOFAR Image noise calculator (beta)". support.astron.nl.
  5. ^ "Centre de Recherche Astrophysique de Lyon: CRAL". osu-lyon.fr.
  6. ^ "The low-frequency radio telescope NenuFAR". cnrs.hal.science. 29 August 2020.
  7. ^ "NenuFAR: Instrument description and science case". cnrs.hal.science.
  8. ^ "Inauguration of NenuFAR". Observatoire de Paris - PSL. 8 October 2019.
  9. ^ "Laboratoire Univers et Particules de Montpellier". www.lupm.in2p3.fr.
  10. ^ a b c "Exposition Scientifiques : portrait de Mamta Pandey-Pommier". cnrs.fr. 27 September 2019.
  11. ^ "80 ans de talents Femmes-de-Sciences". cnrs.fr. 27 September 2019.
  12. ^ "Objectif mentorat : une société de chercheuses à Lyon 1". iau.org. Issue 6. April 10, 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
  13. ^ "Executive Committee WG Women in Astronomy". iau.org.
  14. ^ a b "Women in Astronomy HomePage". iau.org.
  15. ^ "Women in Astronomy Scientific Objectives". iau.org.
  16. ^ "Women in Astronomy Working Group Magazine". ENSEMBLE.
  17. ^ "WiA Annual Report 2021-2022".
  18. ^ "WiA Annual Report 2022-2023".
  19. ^ "WiA Triennial Report 2021 - 2024".
  20. ^ "WiA Annual Report 2023-2024".
  21. ^ "About the Europlanet Science Congress (EPSC) – Europlanet". www.europlanet.org.
  22. ^ "Status of Women in Astronomy: Still a Long Way to Go – Europlanet". www.europlanet.org.
  23. ^ "International Astronomical Union Women in Astronomy Working Group - XXXII IAU General Assembly 2024". iau.org. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |DUPLICATE_website= ignored (help)
  24. ^ "IAU Div. C membership". iauarchive.eso.org.
  25. ^ "European Commission". commission.europa.eu.
  26. ^ "Re-elected WiA Chair". iau.org.
  27. ^ "EAS Advisory Committee on Equity, Diversity, Inclusion". eas.unige.ch.