Kaushik Mitra

Kaushik Mitra is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Earth & Planetary Sciences at The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA), where he leads the Laboratory for Experimental & Aqueous Planetology (LEAP). He received his Integrated B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Applied Geology from the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur (2015) and a Ph.D. in Earth & Planetary Sciences from Washington University in Saint Louis (2021). Prior to UTSA, he worked with the Indian Space Agency (ISRO) and served as a Postdoctoral Research Associate at Stony Brook University.

• Research Focus: Aqueous geochemistry, experimental geochemistry, and planetary science.
• Key Projects: (Sub)surface weathering on Mars, organic matter degradation by oxyhalogen species, and dissolution kinetics of redox-sensitive minerals.

Mitra combines laboratory experiments and computer simulations to investigate planetary surface processes, particularly on Mars. His work addresses fundamental questions about the chemical and isotopic evolution of extraterrestrial environments.