Ajay Dangi
Hi,
I am Ajay Dangi, working as a research assistant professor in the Biophotonics and Ultrasound Imaging lab at the Pennsylvania State University. My current research involves realizing novel MEMS and photonics sensors, developing imaging instruments using these sensors, and demonstrating the resulting equipment for clinical imaging applications. My day-to-day work involves hands-on hardware development and sensor realization along with software development for sensor data processing, image generation, multiphysics simulations, circuit design, and firmware development.
I obtained my MS and PhD from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore, India, working at the interface of mechanical and electronics engineering at the Center for Nano Science and Engineering (CeNSE) from Aug 2011 to Aug 2017. My doctoral thesis was focused on realization of silicon based ultrasound transducer arrays known as PMUTs, or piezoelectric micromachined ultrasound transducers. I executed multiple projects during this period including multiphysics FEA simulations, parametric modeling (p-cell) of PMUTs, PZT thin film deposition, cleanroom process optimization, electronic interface development, and sensor characterization.
Taking some time off from my PhD work, I also ventured into entrepreneurship for a short span from March 2015 - May 2016. During this period we built, SensusLabs, an indoor positioning company that used ultrawide band (UWB) RF technology to develop tiny (3cm x 2cm) object tracking tags over a large range (~50 m) with high accuracy (<20 cm).
Prior to my PhD, I did my bachelors in Mechanical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) - Varanasi (2006-2010) and briefly worked for a fortune 500 petroleum company (July 2010 - July 2011).