I was born and raised majorly in Northern India. I have travelled across the length and breadth of the Indian subcontinent to get a personal experience of the fascinating cultural variation that I read in my books growing up. I completed my B.Tech in Mechanical Engineering in the year 2013. I realized during my undergrad that Mechanical Engineering Design was my favorite and so I decided to go ahead and pursue my master’s degree in Computer Aided Analysis and Design in the year 2014. During my masters, I worked on creating FEA models of prosthetic sockets for amputated limbs. The goal of the project was to choose the best possible material for prosthetic sockets by studying the load analysis during human gait and. My masters project introduced me to the world of computational mechanics which left me intrigued. In order to dig deeper into the concepts of Computational Mechanics and Materials, I decided to pursue my PhD in Mechanical Engineering Design soon after finishing my masters in 2016. During my PhD, I worked in the field of Computational Materials Sceince. My PhD dissertation topic was : Molecular Dynamics based Simulations to elucidate the effect of radiation damage on mechanical properties of nuclear materials like Zirconium and Zirconium Niobium Alloys. The topic was significant because Atomistic simulations can successfully capture the atomistic level changes caused by radiation damage which could be primary reason behind sudden catastrophic failures experienced in nuclear power plants. These features cannot be captured by experiments given the constrains on length scales (angstroms) and time scales (picoseconds or femtoseconds) at which radiation damage occurs. Additionally, experiments on post irradiated samples can be hazardous and tedious. After completing my PhD in December of 2019 from Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, India, I got an opportunity to work as a post-doctoral fellow at Johns Hopkins University and then at University of California Irvine where I was involved in studying atomistic phenomenon that affect plasticity in metals and alloys. My research interest lies in the field of computational mechanics and materials science and I look forward to apply all my skills and knowledge in the classroom to make learning fun and exciting!
Fun fact about me: In my leisure time, I love to bike and hike or just cook my favorite meals, dance and binge read novels. I also worked with professional theatre group back in India and would love to explore that hobby again sometime!