When he’s not teaching a class on wildlife biology or conducting research on lions and wolves, biology professor Stotra Chakrabarti can often be found serving, slicing and spinning ping pong balls across the table at the Leonard Center, where he plays against other faculty and students. Table tennis has helped Chakrabarti personally and professionally, and has allowed him to help others along the way.
Though Chakrabarti first encountered the sport as a middle-schooler where he grew up in West Bengal, India, he was originally more focused on outdoor games, such as soccer and cricket. It was not until he was immersed in writing his master’s dissertation that he began playing table tennis in earnest — mainly, he says, as a coping mechanism.
“I used to share a graduate hostel with my peers,” Chakrabarti said. “We had a table in the common room, and we would play for hours at night while we took a break from writing.”
This early experience blossomed into a lifelong love of the game, which followed Chakrabarti as he earned a master’s in wildlife sciences and a doctorate in animal behavior and as his job took him across states, countries and continents.
“My paddles always go with me,” Chakrabarti said.
And it is a good thing they did. Table tennis has continually sustained him, not only helping him not just to wind down from work, but also to focus on it.
At one point during Chakrabarti’s postdoctoral research, he was stumped by a particularly challenging research question on lion behavior, and table tennis helped him out.
“Frustrated, I picked up my paddle and played a few hands with a colleague, and we discussed some of the nuances of that analysis,” Chakrabarti recalled. “He gave me some insightful ideas as [to] how to examine the data, and voilá! It made sense.”
It is no wonder that, soon after he arrived at Macalester in Fall 2021, Chakrabarti was approached by students to become the faculty advisor for the Table Tennis Club. He eagerly agreed.
“I must commend the group of students who reached out to me initially to get this going and the current students who have taken it forward,” Chakrabarti said.
The club, which hosts biweekly practices and well-attended, competitive tournaments has been quite successful, quickly amassing a large mailing list and a dedicated group of students and faculty.
“Great mix of people, wonderful vibes, great community,” Chakrabarti said about the club.
Tournament days are particularly exciting.
“The energy around the tables in the LC is just electric,” Charkrabarti said. “I love it.”
And so do the students who often line up to take their shot at the professor, who rarely loses a game.
Win or lose, these games are where the deepest connections between Chakrabarti and his students are often built.
“[I have] played the game extensively, shared amazing conversations [and] cracked jokes at the table [with returning players] and brought in new players,” Chakrabarti said.
Last year, Chakrabarti bid farewell to one of his research students through a table tennis game.
Chakrabarti has also impacted students’ table tennis skills.
“The biggest impact that Stotra has had on me as a player is that he emphasized the importance of utilizing spin, rather than solely relying on speed, to play,” David Christenfeld ’27, one of the student founders of the Table Tennis Club, said.
Helping students improve their games is not the only way that Chakrabarti has impacted students.
“Stotra introduced me to the idea that you could be friends, rather than just friendly, with your teachers,” Christenfeld said. “I’ve now been able to foster similar relationships with other professors, which I would never have felt comfortable doing had Stotra not shown me that it was possible.”
Even as life has settled down since he arrived at Mac, the sport continues to help Chakrabarti in his professional work.
“When I am stressed or running low on inspiration, I often resort to watching recordings of table tennis players and their games, and their sheer dedication and focus uplifts me,” Chakrabarti said.
More than anything, however, it is the robust, welcoming community of ping pong players at Macalester — to which Chakrabarti is integral — that keeps him coming back for more.
“I love the enthusiasm, exuberance, and passion that folks show at the tables,” Chakrabarti said. “I always come back energized after playing with them.”
