Embedded Files
I am a Postdoctoral Scholar at the Center for Turbulence Research at Stanford University, working with Prof. Parviz Moin. My research interests include turbulent flows, flow control, and data-driven techniques. Currently, I am working on control strategies for controlling for internal flows Previously, I was a Postdoc in the Mechanical and Civil Engineering Department at California Institute of Technology working with Prof. Tim Colonius, where my focus was on multiphase flows and model reduction.
I received my Ph.D. from the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of California San Diego (UCSD), working with Prof. Oliver Schmidt. During my Ph.D., I focussed on investigating the underlying physical phenomena of turbulent flows. In particular, I performed high-fidelity numerical simulations of turbulent jets and developed data-driven techniques to extract the coherent structures and characterize their nonlinear dynamics.
At UCSD, I completed my Master's thesis with Prof. Antonio Sánchez, during which I performed theoretical and numerical studies of jet diffusion flames. Before joining UCSD, I completed my undergraduate degree in the Department of Mechanical Engineering Indian Institute of Technology Ropar. There, I worked with Prof. R. K. Maurya on low-temperature combustion strategies in IC engines.
Outside work, I am an avid follower of cricket and like to listen to Urdu poetry. In my free time, you can find me taking long walks around the campus. Please feel free to reach out to my email to the side of this page.
I am currently looking for tenure-track positions.
Contact Info
Office: 501 N3, Building 500, CTR, 481 Panama Mall, Stanford.
email: aknekkan@stanford.edu
email: nekkantiakhil1@gmail.com
Recent News
Jan 26: Gave an invited talk in the Mechanical Engineering Department at UC Davis.
Dec 25: Our paper '"Bispectral decomposition and energy transfer in a turbulent jet"' is published in JFM.
Sept 25: Our paper '"Nonlinear dynamics of vortex pairing in transitional jets"' is published in JFM.
July 25: Presented our work "Azimuthal Vortex Instability in Turbulent Jets" at AIAA Aviation 2025, Vegas.
Apr 25: Gave a talk at the CTR Tea Seminar at Stanford University.
Mar 25: Gave an invited talk in the Mechanical Engineering Department at UC Berkeley.
Feb 25: Our paper "Bispectral decomposition and energy transfer in a turbulent jet" is on ArXiv.
Feb 25: Started my Postdoc at Stanford University.
Nov 24: Presented our work "Towards a hybrid model for cavitation inception" at APS DFD 2025, Salt Lake City.
Nov 24: Presented a Poster on "Nonlinear dynamics of Vortex pairing" at the Workshop on Coherent Structures for Turbulence Modeling, Los Alamos.
Jul 24: Our paper "Nonlinear dynamics of vortex pairing in transitional jets" is on ArXiv.
May 24: Gave an invited talk at LSTM, FAU, Erlangen-Nürnberg
Mar 24: Gave an invited talk at MCE department, California Institute of Technology.
Jan 24: Presented our work "Analysis of streaks in unstratified and stratified wakes" at AIAA SciTech 2024, Orlando.
Nov 23: Presented our work "Nonlinear energy transfer in vortex-pairing of initially-laminar jets" at APS DFD 2023, Washington DC.
Oct 23: Our JFM paper "Large-scale streaks in a turbulent bluff body wake"' is online.
Jul 23: Started my Postdoc at Caltech.
Jun 23: Was awarded the ''MAE PhD Outstanding Student of the Year Award''.
Jun 23: Presented our work "Bispectral mode decomposition of axisymmetrically and non-axisymmetrically forced turbulent jets" at AIAA Aviation 2023, San Diego.o.
May 23: Defended my Ph.D.
Jan 23: Our paper '"Gappy spectral proper orthogonal decomposition"' is accepted in JCP.
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse