Ananth received his B.Tech. in Chemical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi in 2013 and his Master's in Chemical Engineering Practice and Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 2015 and 2019, respectively. Subsequently, Ananth conducted postdoctoral research in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Princeton University before joining IISc as an Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering in August 2020. Since September 2025, Ananth is an Associate Professor at IISc.
Google Scholar | CV | Email: ananthgr iisc ac in
Kousika completed her Master's and PhD in Metallurgical and Materials Engineering from IIT Madras. She has expertise in using atomistic simulations for solving defect energetics and dynamics-related problems in compositionally complex ceramics for energy technologies. Kousika's current research interest includes force-field development to understand the interactions between 2D membranes and external media such as water.
Abhijit received his B. Tech. and M. Tech. degree from the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Tezpur University, and a Ph.D. degree from the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati. After, he joined the Department of Chemistry, University of Antwerp, Belgium, as a postdoctoral research scholar. His research expertise includes nanofluidic transport and two-dimensional (2D) membrane materials. Currently, he is working on the development of quantum accurate machine learning interatomic potentials for performing large-scale atomistic simulations on 2D materials (e.g., graphene, graphene oxide) and water.
Manas received his B.Sc. (Honors) and M.Sc. degrees in Physics from the University of Delhi, and a PhD (summa cum laude) in Physics from Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Germany. His PhD research focused on density functional theory-based embedding for molecular and periodic systems. Currently, he is working on the development of neural-network potentials for molybdenum deposition, using extensive first-principles calculations, and employing these potentials in molecular simulations to understand the effect of process conditions on the deposition outcome. In his free time, Manas enjoys making YouTube tutorials, writing blogs, and developing apps/libraries.
Shivam completed his B.Tech. in Chemical Engineering from the Malviya National Institute of Technology, Jaipur. He worked on physics-guided deep neural networks for his bachelor’s project. His current interest lies in using AI for chemical engineering applications. He will be working on using machine learning for catalyst and mechanism discovery. Apart from research, Shivam involves himself in playing hockey, following geopolitics, exploring rap music, and reading non-fictional literature.
Pasyanthi completed her B.E. in Chemical Engineering from B.I.T. Mesra, Ranchi and her M. Tech from the National Institute of Technology Karnataka (NITK), Surathkal. During her Masters, Pasyanthi worked on synthesizing electrolyte materials for solid oxide electrolysis cells (SOEC). For her PhD, she will be working on modelling nanoscale transport phenomena in 2D materials for membrane separation processes.
Manasi Lavhekar completed her B.Tech in Chemical Engineering from Vishwakarma Institute of Technology, Pune and M.Tech in Chemical Engineering from IIT Madras. During her master’s, she worked on designing a portable kiln to produce charcoal from wood biomass through pyrolysis using CFD in ANSYS Fluent. Currently, she is working on reinforcement learning for nanopore design in 2D materials. Besides academic pursuits, Manasi enjoys travelling, trekking, reading books, and painting.
Kashish obtained the degrees of B.Sc (Hons.) in Physics from the Banaras Hindu University and M.Sc Physics from the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. Kashish is a joint IISc-University of Manchester (UoM) PhD student co-advised with Prof. Rahul Raveendran Nair from UoM. She will be working on combined theoretical and experimental investigation of 2D material membranes for separation applications.
Samir completed his B.Tech and M.Tech dual degree in Chemical Engineering from the National Institute of Technology (NIT) Rourkela in 2023. His Master's research was focused on the design of a microbial fuel cell (MFC) and the analysis of the effect of environmental conditions and different parameters on its performance. Samir is co-advised by Profs. Sudeep Punnathanam and Ananth Govind Rajan for his doctoral work, which is geared towards the modeling and simulations of electrical double layers for supercapacitor applications. His hobbies include writing, swimming, and philosophical reading.
Deepak holds a B.Tech in Chemical Engineering from Guru Ghasidas Vishwavidyalaya and an M.Tech from IIT Jodhpur, where his research focused on molecular simulations of hydrogen entrapment in AlN nanotubes for energy storage. He is currently pursuing a Ph.D. with Profs. Ananth Govind Rajan and Sudeep Punnathanam, with his research focused on modeling and simulating chemical vapor deposition (CVD) processes for 2D material synthesis. Outside of academics, Deepak enjoys cricket, football, racket pushball, singing, reading, music, and web series.
Anusha Tripathi completed her BTech in Chemical Engineering from Ambedkar Institute of Technology, Kanpur and her MTech in Chemical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), working with Prof. Ananth as a Shell Fellow. Her doctoral research is focused on reduced-order modeling, quantum-mechanical simulations, and experimental testing of water electrolyzers. In addition to her academic pursuits, Anusha enjoys dancing, singing, poetry writing, and recitation.
Keerthi Bali completed her BSc in Physics from an Andhra University-affiliated college and her MSc in Physics from Sri Venkateswara University. With a background in coding, she joined the PhD program at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), co-advised by Prof. Ananth Govind Rajan (Department of Chemical Engineering) and Prof. Phani Motamarri (Department of Computational and Data Sciences). Her doctoral research focuses on developing novel computational methods for quantum modeling of materials in the exascale era, with applications to electrocatalysis. Outside of research, Keerthi enjoys sketching and playing badminton.
Raghavendra completed his B.Tech. in Chemical Engineering from the National Institute of Technology Karnataka, Surathkal and his M.Tech. in Chemical Engineering from IISc. He has hands-on experience applying machine learning to chemical engineering systems such as biomass torrefaction and batch crystallization. His master's project focused on utilizing machine learning for catalyst and mechanism discovery. Apart from academics, Raghavendra enjoys playing the violin and engaging in philosophical reading.
Abhiram completed his B.Tech. in Chemical Engineering from the National Institute of Technology, Andhra Pradesh, in 2024. During his undergraduation, he gained experience in CFD modeling while working as an IAS-INSA-NASI Summer Research Fellow at JNCASR. For his Master’s project, he will focus on evaporative separations using 2D materials, working under the joint supervision of Prof. K. Ganapathy Ayappa and Prof. Ananth Govind Rajan. Outside academics, he enjoys composing poetry and exploring topics in astronomy and spirituality.
Aravind Kumar holds a B.Tech degree from Puducherry Technological University, Puducherry. His B.Tech project focused on modeling and simulating a batch reactor for a reaction network. Additionally, he has also worked on solubility models for anticancer drugs in supercritical CO₂ and gained experience with reactor and crystallizer challenges. Currently, he will be working on developing machine-learnable representations for functionalized 2D nanopores and 2D porous organic frameworks using the STRONGs approach. He is fond of listening to music and spending quality time with his family and friends.
Avijit completed his B.Tech in Chemical Engineering from Jadavpur University, Kolkata, in 2025. During his undergraduate days, he worked as an IASc-INSA-NASI Summer Research Fellow at the CSIR-National Metallurgical Laboratory (NML), Jamshedpur, gaining experience in synthesizing nanostructured electrocatalysts. For his master's project at IISc, he will explore catalyst and reaction mechanism discovery using machine learning and microkinetic modeling. Apart from academics, Avijit enjoys reading nonfiction, listening to songs and reciting Bengali poetry (with a special fondness for Tagore), and taking random long walks across the IISc campus!
Subash completed his Integrated M.Sc. in Chemistry from the Department of Chemistry, IIT Kharagpur. He is currently an M.Tech (Research) student in the Department of Chemical Engineering at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. His research focuses on combined experimental and theoretical investigations of the oxygen evolution reaction on Fe-doped nickel oxyhydroxide catalysts.
Shelly is currently pursuing a Bachelor's and Master's of Science (Research) at the Indian Institute of Science, majoring in Chemistry. Her current research involves modelling a CVD reactor for 2D transition metal dichalcogenides using ab initio calculations. Apart from academics, Shelly loves to make digital art and participate in capture the flag (CTF) competitions.
Jatin Rawat is an Integrated M.Tech. student in Chemical Engineering with a minor in Materials and Polymer Engineering at the ICT Mumbai – IndianOil Campus, Class of 2026. His past research spans ML-guided design of high-entropy alloys and self-healing polymers, as well as DFT-based studies on dye-sensitized solar cells. Currently, he is working on functionalized 2D nanopores using the STRONG framework and developing reinforcement learning strategies for nanopore design in materials. Outside of research, he enjoys watching and playing football and has a keen interest in history and geopolitics.
Deborina Basu is an undergraduate student at the SRM Institute of Science and Technology, pursuing a degree in Electronics and Communication Engineering, Class of 2026. Her interests include quantum computing, web development, and embedded systems. She has worked on projects which includes quantum chemistry and compiler design to IoT-based systems. Currently, she is conducting research under the INAE Mentorship Program, where she is exploring molecular energy calculations using quantum algorithms like SQD and QSE. In her free time, she enjoys badminton and watching Formula 1.