Indian astrophysicist Dr Devesh Nandal, postdoctoral researcher at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard and the Smithsonian have been appointed to the Scientific Advisory Board for Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP), an expert body convened by Professor Avi Loeb of Harvard University to provide scientific analysis of unexplained atmospheric and anomalous observations.
The Council was formed at the request of stakeholders within the US executive branch, including the White House, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), the Pentagon All Domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the broader US intelligence community. According to Loeb, the body will advise the UAP’s high-level management structure while working exclusively with unclassified information that can be discussed publicly.
In contrast to the speculative debates surrounding UFOs, the Council was charged with examining unexplained observations through established scientific methods, including evidence-based analysis, instrumentation, numerical modeling, and data interpretation.
A role centered around scientific analysis
Dr Nandal, who hails from Hisar in Haryana, was appointed for his expertise in numerical analysis and astrophysics. His work focuses on theoretical modeling, stellar evolution, and interpretation of complex astrophysical data, areas that are expected to support the Council in distinguishing between scientifically explainable phenomena and truly anomalous observations.
The Council brings together specialists from multiple disciplines, including statistics, physics, artificial intelligence, biology, anthropology, oceanography and psychology. Besides Loeb, members include Stanford University professor Gary Nolan, physicist Kevin Knuth, statistician Liberty Vitter Capito, oceanographer Tim Gallaudet, science writer Michael Shermer, and others.
Loeb, who chairs the council, is the Frank P. Byrd Jr. Professor of Science at Harvard University and heads the Galileo Project, an initiative that applies scientific methods to search for evidence of extraterrestrial technological artifacts.
The research extends to the first stars and the early universe
Dr. Nandal completed his master’s research at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden, where he worked on experimental methods to measure the Lamb shift of antihydrogen. He later earned a PhD from the University of Geneva with research focusing on the formation and evolution of the first generation of massive and massive stars in the universe.
His recent work examines how primordial stars contributed to the chemical evolution of the early universe. In a recent study, he and his colleagues suggested that stars between 1,000 and 10,000 times the mass of the Sun could explain the unusually high nitrogen enrichment detected in the distant galaxy GS 3073, which was observed at a redshift of 5.55. His research also explores the origins of massive black hole seeds using observations from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope.
Born into a family associated with education and public service, Dr. Nandal is the son of Dr. Sumer Singh Nandal, Deputy Director, Youth and Sports Department, Haryana, and Professor of Sociology, Dr. Shakuntla Nandal.
His appointment places him among a select group of international scientists who contribute to one of the world’s most closely monitored scientific initiatives at the intersection of astrophysics, national security, and unexplained weather phenomena. The Council stressed that its goal is not to assume conclusions, but rather to evaluate anomalous observations through rigorous scientific research.
