Dr. Mainak Mookherjee obtained his BSc (1997) from Jadavpur University, Kolkata, and his MSc (1999) from the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai. He went on to earn his PhD (2003) from the University of Cambridge. He moved to the U.S. in 2003 for postdoctoral research at the University of Michigan (2003–2005) and Yale University (2006–2008). Dr. Mookherjee then joined Bayreisches Geoinstitut, Bayreuth, Germany, as a visiting researcher in 2008. He returned to the U.S. in 2012 as a research scientist at Cornell University. Since 2015, Dr. Mookherjee has been a faculty member at Florida State University. In 2019, he was tenured and promoted from assistant to associate professor, and in 2024, to full professor.
Dr. Mookherjee’s primary research interest lies in understanding the processes that occur in the Earth’s interior. He uses a combination of experimental methods and complementary numerical simulations to understand the cycling/exchange of volatiles such as hydrogen/water and carbon dioxide between the Earth’s exosphere and its interior.
Geophysical observations have often indicated a presence of low viscosity channel which explains the southward extrusion of the Himalaya. The likely cause of this low viscosity channel is partial melting. In his Fulbright-Nehru project, Dr. Mookherjee is examining whether Himalayan crustal rocks contain trace quantities of water. This will help Earth scientists to gain insight into collisional dynamics and volatile cycling. He is also attempting to constrain the water contents in nominally anhydrous minerals of Himalayan crustal rocks. In addition, he is providing constraints to the physical properties of water-bearing melts which will enable geophysicists to test the low viscosity channel hypothesis.