Principal Investigator
D. Chaitanya Kumar Rao
Assistant Professor
Department of Aerospace Engineering
Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur
Phone: +91-0512-259-2338 (Office)
E-mail: chaitanya [at] iitk.ac.in
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Postdoctoral Researchers
Sindhuja Priyadarshini
FARE Fellow
PhD, IIT Kanpur
Combustion and atomization
psindhu20 [at] iitk.ac.in
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Graduate Students
Sindhuja Priyadarshini
(with Prof. Abhijit Kushari)
Doctoral candidate
M.S.(R), IIT Kanpur
Combustion and atomization
psindhu20 [at] iitk.ac.in
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Aswin S H
Doctoral candidate
M.Tech., IIT Kanpur
Acoustically-coupled combustion
shaswin23 [at] iitk.ac.in
Avadhesh Kumar Tiwari
Doctoral candidate
Laser-induced atomization
avadheshkt23 [at] iitk.ac.in
Sudama Bhati
(with Prof. Sanjay Kumar)
Doctoral candidate
Shock-induced atomization
bhati [at] iitk.ac.in
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Santosh Kumar
Doctoral candidate
Laser-fluid interaction
santoshkumar25 [at] iitk.ac.in
Md Sahanawaj Karim
Doctoral candidate
Laser propulsion
sahanawajk25 [at] iitk.ac.in
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Bhukya Chennakeshavulu
Doctoral candidate
Electric field-induced atomization
bhukyac24 [at] iitk.ac.in
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Dixit Hirani
(with Prof. Sanjay Kumar)
Master’s student
Aerodynamic breakup of droplets
dixitnh23 [at] iitk.ac.in
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Chandra Prakash Bairagi
Master’s student
Laser-fluid interaction
cpbairagi25 [at] iitk.ac.in
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Vedant Parekh
Master’s student
Theoretical analysis of laser-fluid interaction
vsparekh25 [at] iitk.ac.in
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Previous group members
Postdoctoral Researchers
Gannena K.S. Raghuram
Institute Postdoctoral Fellow (2024)
Ph.D., IISc Bengaluru
Evaporation and atomization
gannenaraghuram939 [at] gmail.com
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Graduate Students
Eswar Sai Viswajit Manchalla
Master’s student
Frequency analysis of burning droplets
eswarsai23 [at] iitk.ac.in
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Akanksha Yadav
Master’s student
Combustion and atomization
akankshayadav783 [at] gmail.com
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Research interns
Vitul Bansal (2023)
Ankur Sinha (2023)
Shweta Pal (2023)
Ritayan Mukherjee (SURGE Program, 2024)
Poornima Vatti (2025)
Vivek Raj (SURGE Program, 2025)