Dr. Pritish Chakravarty

Postdoc

Department for the Ecology of Animal Societies

pchakravarty@ab.mpg.de

Main Focus

Pritish Chakravarty is a postdoctoral researcher at the Department for the Ecology of Animal Societies at the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior. He is an engineer turned behavioral ecologist interested in animal motion analysis. His current work focuses on studying sleep across animal species in the wild using accelerometer data.

His other ongoing and past work in animal ecology includes: flight dynamics in migrating birds (MPI-AB); perception and motion in fish (University of Cambridge); foraging in meerkats (EPFL; UZH); movement patterns of leopard tortoises (EPFL; UZH). Prior to his PhD, he worked in biomedical engineering: tissue analysis using 3D models reconstructed from MRI scans (Lausanne University Hospital; 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