About Shanil

Shanil did his undergraduate work in Physics and Philosophy at the University of Waterloo, located in Waterloo, Ontario and his graduate work at Yale University where he studied supermassive black holes lurking at the centers of galaxies in the nearby and distant Universe. 

Prior to Yale, Shanil spent 5+ years at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics as part of the Science Team of the Chandra X-ray Observatory, NASA's flagship, space-based, X-ray mission. While at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, he received several NASA Achievement Awards and awards of distinction from The Smithsonian Institution for his contributions to the operations of the Chandra X-ray Observatory. He was awarded the 2009 Chambliss Astronomy Achievement Award medal by the American Astronomical Society for exemplary research as a graduate student. 

In 2013, he was appointed a Solar System Ambassador by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Solar System Ambassadors communicate the excitement of JPL's space exploration missions and information about recent discoveries to people in their local communities. In Fall of 2017, Shanil was nominated for James Madison University's Distinguished Teacher Award. He has authored or co-authored over 100 publications in scientific journals that have been cited more than 3,000 times. 

Shanil created and hosts #OurIslandUniverse, a weekly look at all things space and how what goes on ``up there'' affects our life ``down here''. The central themes are to promote the public understanding of science, our exploration of the natural world, and how modern science is really a continuation of our species natural desire to understand the cosmos and our perspective within it. Astronomy is a shared cultural connection and by telling stories of our past and present, we hope to inspire the future. You can find episodes of the show and subscribe to the series via SoundCloud.

You can find him on Twitter as @shanilv where he invites you to continue the conversation with him. To invite him to come speak to your community group or organization, please use the "Contact" form to reach him.