Rate My Professor Mainak Mookherjee

Mainak Mookherjee is Professor of Geology in the Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences at Florida State University, where he has served since December 2015, advancing from Assistant Professor (2015-2019) to Associate Professor (2019-2024) and full Professor since August 2024. He directs the FSU-Earth Materials Laboratory. Mookherjee holds a Ph.D. in Earth Sciences from the University of Cambridge (2004), M.Sc. in Applied Geology from the Indian Institute of Technology Mumbai (1999), and B.Sc. in Geology from Jadavpur University Kolkata (1997). His prior appointments include Research Scientist at Cornell University (2012-2015), Visiting Researcher at Bayerisches Geoinstitut, Germany (2008-2012), Postdoctoral Researcher at Yale University (2006-2008), and Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Michigan (2003-2005).

His research specializes in volatiles in the deep Earth, encompassing the structure and properties of hydrous minerals, geofluids, and melts under high-pressure and high-temperature conditions relevant to subduction zones, mantle dynamics, and the deep carbon and water cycles. Mookherjee has garnered significant recognition, including the 2024 Fulbright-Nehru Academic and Professional Excellence Fellowship and Fulbright U.S. Scholar Award to India (2024-2025), Global Visitor Fellowship at the Earth & Planets Laboratory, Carnegie Institution for Science (2024), Fellowship of the Mineralogical Society of America (2023), NSF CAREER Award (2018), and Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Enhancement Award (2017). Notable publications include "Mobility of magmas within the Earth: Insights from the elasticity and transport properties of hydrous albitic melts" (Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, 2024), "Insights into magma ocean dynamics from the transport properties of basaltic melt" (Nature Communications, 2022), "Viscosity measurements at high pressures: A critical appraisal of corrections to Stokes’ Law" (Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth, 2024), and "Anomalous elasticity of talc at high pressures: Implications for subduction systems" (Geoscience Frontiers, 2022). He holds editorial positions such as Special Publications Editor for American Mineralogist (2026-present) and serves on the Executive Committee of EOAS, as Geology Graduate Advising Chair, and on committees for the Mineralogical Society of America. Mookherjee has presented public lectures on Earth’s deep-water cycle and diamond origins in India and the U.S.