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. Pallavi Katre

I am  Dr. Pallavi Katre. I earned my PhD in Chemical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad in 2022, under the guidance of Prof. Kirti Chandra Sahu. During my doctoral studies, my research focused on the wetting and evaporation behavior of binary-nanofluid sessile droplets. Following my PhD, I joined Aloke’s lab as an Institute of Eminence Post-doctoral Researcher, where I am working on the rheology of complex fluids, droplet coalescence, and the pinch-off dynamics of non-Newtonian fluids. My work primarily involves both experimental and theoretical analysis. 

Dr. Vipin Kumar

I, Dr. Vipin Kumar, hold a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Gautam Buddh Technical University, Lucknow, and a master’s in mechanical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (Indian School of Mines), Dhanbad. I pursued my Ph.D. at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IITM), where my research focused on combustion in microgravity environments. Before joining the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the Indian Institute of Science, I worked as a Postdoctoral Associate at the University of Maryland, College Park (August 2024 – February 2025). Currently, my research focuses on droplet impact, automation, and related phenomena in both terrestrial and microgravity environments.

Graduate Students at IISc:

Shubhanshu (Shux) Shukla (M.Tech. Research)

Shubhanshu (Shux) Shukla is an Indian Air Force test pilot and one of the four astronaut designates who will fly to space as part of the Indian Human Spaceflight Programme. He completed the Cadet Basic Training and the mandatory three-year B.Tech course in Engineering at the National Defence Academy in 2005. Following this, he was selected for the flying branch and joined the Indian Air Force Academy for air force flying training and the fourth year of his B.Tech degree. He has been selected as the pilot for the upcoming Axiom Mission 4 to the International Space Station. He is currently enrolled for M.Tech (research) course at Indian Institute of Science under the supervision of Prof. Aloke Kumar.


Prabeen Kumar Pattnayak (Ph.D.)
I, Prabeen Kumar Pattnayak, completed my B.Tech in Mechanical Engineering at Centurion University of Technology and Management, Odisha, and went on to earn my M.Tech in Mechanical Engineering from the Defence Institute of Advanced Technology, Pune. For my M.Tech dissertation, I worked at the Cryogenic Engineering Design Laboratory at the Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology, Indore. I joined the Department of Mechanical Engineering at IISc in August 2019 as a PhD student. My research focuses on the molecular modelling of polymer chains, with a particular interest in supramolecular topological constraints.

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.

E Sam Elijah (Ph.D.)

I am E Sam Elijah. I obtained a Bachelor of Technology degree in Mechanical Engineering from VIT Chennai in 2022, followed by a Master of Technology in Thermal Sciences from the National Institute of Technology Calicut in 2024. In the same year, I joined the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Science, where I am currently engaged in research focused on the fluid mechanics of complex fluids.

Adityan Rajesh (M.Tech.)

I, Adityan Rajesh, completed my B.Tech in Mechanical Engineering from Government Engineering College, Thrissur. After graduation, I joined Prof. Aloke Kumar’s lab as a Project Associate, where I worked on developing space-based payloads for biological experiments. This interdisciplinary work sparked my interest in engineering applications in space. I am currently a first-year M.Tech student in Mobility Engineering at the Department of Mechanical Engineering, IISc. My research interests include system design of payloads for space based applications.

Niyati Desai (M.Tech.)

I, Niyati Desai, completed my Bachelor’s degree in Aerospace Engineering from Hindustan Institute of Technology and Science (HITS), Chennai, in 2023. During my undergraduate studies, I undertook my final year project at the Combat Vehicles Research & Development Establishment (CVRDE), DRDO, where I gained valuable exposure to both experimental and computational techniques related to aircraft landing gear systems. In 2024, I joined the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) for my MTech in Mechanical Engineering. In 2025, I joined Prof. Aloke Sir’s lab as a postgraduate researcher, where I am currently involved in the design and development of satellite systems. Outside of academics, I enjoy reading books across various genres, writing, dancing, and playing the harmonium.

Shivam Yadav (M.Tech.)

I, Shivam Yadav, completed my Bachelor’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering from NIT Arunachal Pradesh (2018-2022). In 2024, I enrolled at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) to pursue a Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering. I commenced my M.Tech. project under the supervision of Professor Aloke Kumar in 2025.

Project 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:

Mritunjay Baruah

I, Mritunjay Baruah, have completed my graduation in Industrial Design from the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad. I did my thesis on the ‘Design of a Collapsible Testbed to Study Space Stressors Induced Fatigue in Astronauts’ from the Human Spaceflight Centre, ISRO, Bengaluru. Subsequently, I joined Prof. Aloke’s Lab at the IISc Bengaluru to work on the architecture of an Extraterrestrial Habitat. My research areas are space architecture and industrial design for space based systems.

Shreyaans Jain

Shreyaans Jain is a graduate in Engineering Physics from UIUC with a specialisation in Quantum Information systems. At Aloke lab, he is building next generation satellites for optics based satellites, one of them being microbial analysis in space (MANAS) onboard Skyroot, world’s first active biological picosatellite. He wishes to make space launches a habit moving forward.

Alumni:

Post-Doctoral Researchers:

  • Dr. Bimalendu Mahapatra (Now: DST Inspire faculty, Dept. of Mech. Engg., IISc Bangalore)
  • Dr. Deeksha Porwal
  • Dr. Debayan Dasgupta 
  • Dr. Subhasree Dutta (Now: Faculty at SRM University, AP)
  • Dr. Udita Ghosh (Now: Faculty at Department of Chemical Engineering, IIT- BHU, UP)
  • Dr. Rashmi Dikshit (Now: Lead Microbiologist at MatiCarbon, Bengaluru, KA)
  • Dr. Tanushree Ghosh (Now: Faculty at Ramaiah University of Applied Sciences, Bengaluru, KA)

Graduate students:

  • Amit Sharma (MTech; Completed successfully at IISc in May 2025; Project title – Impact of Polymeric Droplet on liquid Pool; Now: Senior Engineer – Technology at Triveni Turbines, Bengaluru)
  • Manaswita Karmakar (MTech; Completed successfully at IISc in May 2025; Project title – Dynamics of Drop Coalescence; Now: Engineer – Applied Materials, Bengaluru)
  • Nitin Gupra (Ph.D.; Defended successfully at IISc in March 2025; Thesis title – Investigation of consolidation methods for developing load bearing structures from lunar and martian regolith simulants; Now: Postdoc at IRAMIS, CEA, University Paris Saclay, France)
  • Navin Kumar Chandra (Ph.D.; Defended successfully at IISc in November 2024; Thesis title – Aerobreakup of a polymeric droplet; Now: Postdoc at Aix Marseille University, Marseille, France)
  • Gannena K S Raghuram (Ph.D.; Defended successfully at IISc in November 2023; Thesis title – Insights into evaporation, atomization and precipitate formation of polymer droplets.)
  • Divakar Badal (Ph.D.; Defended successfully at IISc in October 2023; Thesis title – Experimental and computational approaches to understand collective behaviors of bacterial pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa ; Now: Postdoc at Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, United States.)
  • Dhanashri Tejpal Desai (MTech(R); Defended successfully at IISc in July 2023; Thesis title – 3D-Printing of Lunar Soil Simulant by Direct-Extrusion method; Now: Edison Engineer at GE Vernova, Bengaluru, KA)
  • Abhineet Singh Rajput (MTech(R); Defended successfully at IISc in May 2023; Thesis title – Sub-Newtonian Coalescence in Polymeric Fluids; Now: Ph.D. student at Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, United States.)
  • Vegesina Sarath Chandra Varma (Ph.D.; Defended successfully at IISc in May 2023; Thesis title – Coalescence of polymeric droplets; Now: Postdoc at University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada)
  • Cyril Jose (MTech; Completed successfully at IISc in May 2021; Project title – R-D Model of Intercolonial Bacterial Interactions; Now: PhD student at University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, United States)
  • Dibyendu Mandal (MTech(R); Defended successfully at IISc in May 2021; Thesis title – Brownian motion in complex fluids)
  • Lt. Col. Simram Sharma (MTech; Completed successfully at IISc in July 2020; Project title – Launch of a ferromagnetic projectile using a coil gun)
  • 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)
  • 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
  • Swayamdipta Bhaduri (Ph.D.; Defended successfully at University of Alberta in December 2017; Dissertation title – Microbially Induced Calcite Precipitation mediated by Sporosarcina pasteurii)
  • Mahtab Hassanpourfard (Ph.D.; Defended successfully at University of Alberta in Spring 2017; Dissertation title – Bacterial Streamer formation in Porous Media)
  • Behnam Gheshlaghi (MSc; Defended successfully at University of Alberta in Spring 2016; Thesis title – Rotation Effects on Dynamics of Fluid Flow through Microchannels)

Project Assistants

  • Ms. Arya Naik
  • Mr. Amogh Jadhav (joined Georgia Institute of Technology for Masters program)
  • Mr. G. Sai Santhosh Sivan (joined IISc for MTech)
  • Ms. Swati Dubey (joined University of Florida for PhD)
  • Mr. Anurup Mohanty (joined Northwestern University, Illinois for PhD)
  • Mr. Kaustuv Lahiri (joined IIT Bombay for PhD)
  • 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.