An astrophysicist by training and an amateur astronomer at heart, Professor Dipankar Maitra works with students and collaborators around the world on understanding what happens near black holes and neutron stars. He is especially interested in understanding the coupling between accretion inflows and relativistic outflows near these objects. Lately he has been interested in optical polarization studies of the solar corona and other astronomical bodies as well. He earned his PhD from Yale University and did postdoctoral stints at the University of Amsterdam and the University of Michigan before joining the Physics & Astronomy faculty at Wheaton College in Massachusetts. He is constantly searching for better ways to involve students and amateur astronomers in astronomical research, and to make physics and astronomy classes more welcoming and inclusive. He uses telescopes in Wheaton’s on-campus observatory and other ground-based remote telescopes, as well as space-based optical, UV, and X-ray telescopes, for his teaching and research.