I’m Amruta Vurakaranam
I'm originally from India, but currently I live in Germany for my master's degree program. I study Integrated Climate System Sciences at University of Hamburg, Germany. In my undergrad in India from Azim Premji University, Bengaluru, I majored in Physics and minored in Mathematics, but I also did courses in history and politics of India. My switch to Climate Sciences from Physics was motivated by me wanting to be outdoors and do science there. I did a short stint, working for a hiking company in the North of India after my undergrad which founded my decision to pursue climate sciences where i could study glaciers, mountains and so much more.
In my master's, I did a wide range of courses in climate communication and journalism, climate economics, biogeochemistry and physics of climate. I chose to focus on climate physics for my master thesis where I have just started studying remote sensing methods to analyse snow cover changes in the Himalayan region. Last year, I was in University Centre in Svalbard, Norway doing field courses in Polar Oceanography and Meteorology. It was an experience of a lifetime to be able to do fieldwork in such a special place.
I love cooking and spending time with my friends. Apart from that I am the happiest when I'm outdoors. I love hiking and camping. I don't get to do that very often, but I also really enjoy going for runs in the park and long walks in the city. I also love binge watching a show on netflix with some chips, on a day off.
My parents are from the south of India but we live in the west, and we moved around quite a bit because of my dad's job. So summers were always spent in a different region of the country. I left home at 18 for uni which was again in a different place than anywhere I have lived before. And now I'm in Europe! It definitely has been a lot of moving around in the last few years. It does get tiring but meeting amazing new people is always the highlight and makes it worthwhile!
I came across UNIS (University Centre in Svalbard) when I was looking for master's options. One of the reasons why I also came to Germany was that I could go to UNIS from here if I got selected. And when I did, it really was a dream come true. I spent a semester in Svalbard and I got to see the midnight sun when I reached in August and the northern lights by the time I left in December. To be able to do scientific fieldwork was so special. It was the perfect combination of my interests being outdoors and also doing science. We had both land and ship based fieldwork. We collected our own data and analysed them. And it all came together when I also met a bunch of interested and fun people :)
I think they still are trying to figure out what I exactly do but they seem super happy and excited when I get to go to cool places. As someone coming from a small town in India, it still feels surreal. I get a lot of questions about my time in Svalbard and I love talking about it to share the possibilities of what is out there!
I hope to continue working in interdisciplinary fields of climate related to cryosphere. I'm already excited to learn about one of these areas through my master thesis. I hope to continue in the research path and hopefully do a PhD next!
I think women around me, my mom, my friends, my teachers have been my biggest inspiration. They are kind at the same time so passionate about the work they do. The people who I really look up to are my field instructors from Svalbard, Siiri Wickström and Florina Schalamon. I'm super grateful for how welcoming they were and all fun we had learning with them!
I'm still a master student and trying to figure out what I want to do. I'm motivated by the excitement. This excitement has pushed me to have conversations with people, take help and advice from them. My advice would be to talk to more people who are interested in the things you are too. Ask questions, there is a lot of people who are happy to help :)
Follow Amruta on Instagram @amruta_vurakaranam and Twitter @amrutavrkrnm