People

Principal Investigator:


Dr. Aloke Kumar (डॉ. आलोक कुमार)
Associate Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering,
Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore
Email: alokekumar AT iisc.ac.in

PI Background:

2000-2005 – B. Tech & M. Tech from Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, WB, India

2005-2010 – Ph.D. from Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA

Work experience:

  • Associate Professor at Indian Institute of Science, India Current
  • Assistant Professor at Indian Institute of Science, India 05/2017-06/2021
  • Visiting Scholar at Columbia University, USA 02/2017-05/2017
  • Assistant Professor at University of Alberta, Canada 2013-2017
  • Staff Scientist at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, USA 2010-2013

Awards and Honors (Selected):

  • Canada Research Chair (Tier II) in Microfluidics for Biological Systems, NSERC, Canada (2014-2017)
  • Eugene P. Wigner Fellowship, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, USA (2010-Present)
  • DeKármán Fellowship, Josephine DeKármán Fellowship Trust, California, USA (2009-2010)
  • Bilsland Dissertation Fellowship, Purdue University, USA (2009-2010)
  • Adelberg Fellowship, Purdue University, USA (2007-2008)
  • Ross Fellowship, Purdue University, USA (2005-2006)

Google Scholar


Research Group:

Post-Doctoral Researchers:


Dr. Rashmi Dikshit (DBT BioCARe Scientist)
I, Dr. Rashmi Dikshit, have completed my graduation from Lucknow University and Masters in Zoology from Awadh University. Subsequently, I joined Ph.D. from Lucknow University which was discontinued after a year due to personal commitments. However, in order to quench my academic research-oriented thirst, I re-engineered myself and joined M Phil in microbiology after a gap of 6 long years. I successfully completed my M. Phil. followed by Ph.D. in Microbiology from Jain University, Bangalore. I also worked as a Research fellow on a project sponsored by the Department of Science and Technology of the Government of India (SERB) for one year. I have experimented myself in fields varying from zoology to agricultural microbiology and food microbiology etc. I feel I have an everlasting passion for research. To continue my pursuit towards valuable research, currently, I am working as a DBT BioCare Scientist in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore.


Dr. V. Sarath Chandra Varma 
I, Sarath, received my bachelor’s degree from Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University Hyderabad and my master’s from NIT Jamshedpur. I did my Ph.D. research at IISc. My area of research is fluid flow at micro scales.

Graduate Students at IISc:


Gannena Raghuram (Ph.D.)
I completed my bachelor’s and master’s from the Central University of Chhattisgarh and Amrita University, respectively. I am going to work on microscale flows.


Divakar Badal (Ph.D.)
I joined this lab in the winter of 2017 as a Ph.D. student. I completed my integrated M.Tech in biomedical engineering from IIIT Allahabad in 2017. I am interested in exploring the interdisciplinary aspect of microfluidics and microbiology.


Navin Kumar Chandra (Ph.D.)
I, Navin Kumar Chandra have completed my B. Tech. in Mechanical Engineering from NIT Raipur (2014 Batch). After my graduation, I worked for three years at HSCC India Limited as an Executive where I used to design air conditioning systems for hospitals, and then I worked for ten months in the Pipelines division of Indian Oil Corporation as an Operations & Maintenance engineer. To pursue my interest in the research field, I joined IISc in the month of July 2018.


Nitin Gupta (Ph.D.)
Research interest: Mechanical characterization of soft materials; Manufacturing (formability) analysis of wood. Working Experience: Assistant Professor, DVR & HS MIC College of Technology, Kanchikacherla, A.P. (June-Oct 2018) Education: Ph.D. pursuing: IISc Bangalore (Joined in Jan 2019); M Tech: Materials Science and Technology (Mechanical Engineering), National Institute of Technology Calicut (2016-2018); B Tech: Mechanical Engineering, Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Technical University (AKTU) (2012-2016).


Prabeen Pattnayak (Ph.D.)
Research interest: I, Prabeen Kumar Pattnayak, have done my B. Tech in Mechanical Engineering from Centurion University of Technology and Management, Odisha, and M.Tech in Mechanical Engineering from Defence Institute of Advanced Technology, Pune. I did my M. Tech dissertation work at Cryogenic Engineering Design Laboratory, Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology, Indore. I joined the Department of Mechanical Engineering, IISc in August 2019 as a doctoral student.

Rohan Kulkarni (Ph.D.)

I, Rohan Kulkarni, received my bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from VIT, Pune. in 2017. I, then worked at John Deere for a year as a Graduate Engineer Trainee. I joined IISc in 2019 as an M.Tech. student in CPDM (Smart Manufacturing). I worked on functionally graded metal matrix composites formed using polymer-derived ceramics (PDCs) for my M.Tech. thesis. After my M. Tech, I joined Aloke sir’s lab for my doctoral studies. My research interests include materials science, structure-property correlations, and additive manufacturing, etc. When I’m not researching, I like to read history, and ancient Indian scriptures, play violin, and sketch.

Dhanashri Desai (M. Tech (Research))
I, Dhanashri Desai, received my Bachelor’s degree from Govt. College of Engineering, Pune (2013-2017). I worked as Summer Intern in Central Quality Dept., Electric and Automation Unit, L&T, Ahmednagar, Maharashtra (2016). After graduation, I worked for one year in Ashok Leyland as Graduate Engineer Trainee in Product Quality Dept. (2017-2018). I received an outstanding Project award for an advanced problem-solving project during the GET training program (2018). I joined the Kumar Lab in October 2020 as an M. Tech Research student. My Research interests lie in the mechanical behavior of materials, solid mechanics, and finite element analysis. I am working on developing ceramic cellular Structures using the rapid prototyping technique. Along with studies I enjoy rowing (especially sculling), trekking, playing roadside badminton, and cooking.

Lab Manager:


Chaitra Arakesha
I am Chaitra Arakesha, Master of Science (Gold Medal) in Computer Science (2014) from Bangalore University. I joined Kumar Lab in August 2018 as Project Assistant. I have prior experience at IISc for 4yrs from October 2014 as a Data modeler and Data Analyst.

Project Staff:

G Santhosh Sai Sivan (Project Associate)

Kaustuv Lahiri (Project Associate)

Nandita B. (Project Associate)

Anurup Mohanty (Project Assistant)

Abhineet Singh Rajput (Project Assistant)

Project/Thesis student (Current):

Nikhil Pradeep (MS (Research))


Alumni:

Post-Doctoral Researchers:

  • Dr. Debayan Dasgupta 
  • Dr. Udita Ghosh
  • Dr. Tanushree Ghosh 
  • Dr. Subhasree Dutta (Now: Faculty at SRM University, AP)
  • Dr. Deeksha Porwal 

Graduate students:

  • Lt. Col. Simram Sharma (MTech; Defended successfully at IISc in July 2020; Project title – Launch of a ferromagnetic projectile using a coil gun)
  • Cyril Jose (MTech; Defended successfully at IISc in May 2021; R-D Model of Intercolonial Bacterial Interactions)
  • Dibyendu Mandal (MTech(R); Defended successfully at IISc in May 2021; Thesis title – Brownian motion in complex fluids)
  • Nandini Debnath (Ph.D.; Defended successfully at University of Alberta in Spring 2020; Thesis title – Colloidal fouling in a microfluidic membrane mimic device
  • Rajorshi Paul (MSc; Defended successfully at University of Alberta in Spring 2018; Thesis title – Rivalry in Sibling Bacillus subtilis colonies: Enemy or Family?; Will be joining Stanford Univ. for PhD)
  • Behnam Gheshlaghi (MSc; Defended successfully at University of Alberta in Spring 2016; Thesis title – Rotation Effects on Dynamics of Fluid Flow through Microchannels)
  • Mahtab Hassanpourfard (Ph.D.; Defended successfully at University of Alberta in Spring 2017; Dissertation title – Bacterial Streamer formation in Porous Media)
  • Swayamdipta Bhaduri (Ph.D.; Defended successfully at University of Alberta in December 2017; Dissertation title – Microbially Induced Calcite Precipitation mediated by Sporosarcina pasteurii)
  • Ishita Biswas (Ph.D.; Defended successfully at University of Alberta in April 2018; Dissertation title – Dynamics of bacterial streamers and its impact on biofouling of microfluidic filtration system

Project Assistants

  • Ms. Vainavi Alva (UG Project work)
  • Mr. Animesh Jain (JRF; joined Cambridge Univ. for PhD)
  • Mr. Arjav Vashi (joined UCSD for MS)
  • Mr. Shanthan K. Padisala (Will be joining Ohio State Univ. for MS)
  • Ms. Nayanshree (Joined a company)

Long Term Interns

  • Ms. Vainavi Alva (UG Project work)
  • Ms. Aahana Prakash (UG Project work)
  • Ms. Pooja M Raju (UG Project work)
  • Ms. Harshita Jain (MTech Project work)
  • Mr. Sreeram Rajesh (UG Project work)

Undergraduate Researchers

  • Zahra Nikakhtari (Undergraduate researcher from U. of Alberta; Currently pursuing Doctor of Medicine (MD) program at University of Alberta)
  • Sophie Shi (Undergraduate researcher from U. of Alberta)

Interns

  • Diwakar Swaroop from IIT (Winter Intern 2018)
  • Deepthi Vinod from VIT (Summer Intern 2018)
  • Sreekar from IIT Kharagpur (Summer Intern 2018)
  • Ronit Banerjea from IIT Kharagpur (Summer Intern 2018)
  • Sabyasachi Sen from IIT Kharagpur (Summer Intern 2018)
  • Bhaibhab Pattnaik from IIT Kharagpur (Winter Intern 2017)
  • Srishti Samadder from IIT Kharagpur (Winter Intern 2018)
  • Pranav C.M. from RMIT (Spring 2018)
  • Kaustubh Desai from RMIT (Spring 2018)
  • Linton D’Souza from RMIT (Spring 2018)
  • Joshua Sebastian from RMIT (Spring 2018)
  • Sourav Kundu from IIT Kharagpur (Winter Intern 2017)
  • Debonil Maity from IIT Kharagpur (Summer Intern 2013)
  • Nikhil Gupta from IIT Bombay (Summer Intern 2013)

Open Positions: [NO POSITIONS CURRENTLY]

Closed Positions:
July 2018: Open Project Assistant Position: Applicants with a good knowledge of Mechanical Engineering and good communication skills may apply. Interested applicants should send a 2-page CV in PDF to the PI before 13th July 2018.

November 2017: Open Postdoctoral Research Associate Position @ Indian Institute of Science. Apply through [link disabled]

March 2017: Open Junior Research Fellow Position: Applicants with a good knowledge of Mechanical Engineering and good communication skills may apply. Applicants should send in their complete CVs, along with the names of at least two referees to the PI.