Chanda is an associate professor of physics and astronomy and core faculty in women’s and gender studies at the University of New Hampshire. Her research in theoretical physics focuses on cosmology, dark matter, and neutron stars. She is also a researcher of Black feminist science, technology, and society studies. She is also the creator of the Cite Black Women+ in Physics and Astronomy Bibliography. Her first book The Disordered Cosmos: A Journey into Dark Matter, Spacetime, and Dreams Deferred won the 2021 Los Angeles Times Book Prize in the science and technology category, the 2022 Phi Beta Kappa Science Award, and a 2022 PEN/Oakland Josephine Miles Award. Her second book for general audiences, The Edge of Space-Time: Particles, Poetry, and the Cosmic Dream Boogie is now available for preorder wherever books are sold and will debut on April 7th, 2026. She is now working on an academic book, The Cosmos is a Black Aesthetic. Originally from East L.A., she divides her time between the New Hampshire Seacoast and Cambridge, Massachusetts.