Dr. Pritish Chakravarty

Postdoc

Department for the Ecology of Animal Societies

pchakravarty@ab.mpg.de

Main Focus

I am interested in animal sleep and foraging. I trained as an engineer with a specialization in signal processing, algorithm development, and wearable sensors, and transitioned into animal ecology for my PhD. My current work focuses on studying sleep using accelerometer data collected from free-ranging social animal species.

Other past/ongoing projects in animal ecology include: behavior recognition, energetics and foraging in meerkats (EPFL; UZH), effects of visual noise on foraging in fish (University of Cambridge); movement patterns of leopard tortoises (EPFL; UZH).

Past projects in biomedical engineering include: tissue analysis using 3D models constructed from MRI scans (CHUV; Stanford University); point-of-care blood diagnostics using fluid focusing in microchannels (IIT Bombay).

Curriculum Vitae

Experience

2022- : Postdoctoral Researcher in animal sleep analysis, Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, Konstanz, Germany
2021-22: Postdoctoral Research Associate in modeling the effects of visual noise on foraging in fish, Marine Behavioural Ecology Group, University of Cambridge, UK
2020-21: Postdoctoral Forschungskredit Fellow in energetics and foraging in meerkats, Population Ecology Group, Universität Zürich, Switzerland
2015: Visiting Student Researcher in tissue analysis using MRI, Stanford BioMotion Lab, Stanford University, USA
2014: Summer Intern in tissue analysis using MRI, Swiss BioMotion Lab, Centre hospitalier universitaire vaudois, Switzerland
2012-13: Research Assistant in fluid flow in microchannels, Microfluidics Lab, Indian Institute of Bombay, India

Education

2015-20: Ph.D. in measurement and analysis of animal behavior using inertial sensors, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland
2013-15: M.Sc. in Bioengineering (minor in Biomedical Technologies), Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland
2008-12: B.Tech. (Hons) in Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, India

Blogposts

3. Biomechanically aware behavior recognition using accelerometers

2. The Sixth Bio-logging Symposium, Konstanz: Through the eyes of an engineer, part II

1. The Kalahari: Through the eyes of an engineer