I was born in the suburbs of the southern region of India in Madurai city, Tamil Nadu. Madurai, being popular for its vibrant culture and secular background, invites all classes and customs of people to appreciate its rich heritage dating back to 300 BCE. I was raised by experiencing diverse religious and cultural festivals and utilizing the Tamil Nadu state's dedicated education system. After completing my elementary education in the local state board school, I joined a matriculation school, which taught me a lot of new skills, including English language proficiency. I was surrounded by encouraging teachers and cheerful parents since my childhood. The gift of curiosity stemmed from my schooling days, where I was encouraged to ask any question to transgress beyond mere pedantic understanding. The time arrived for me to choose my undergraduate major when I had completed my higher secondary examinations, ranking 1st in the school as a valedictorian.
Although my parents are pharmacists in the profession, I wanted to break the tradition to become an engineer. The love for chemistry and its colorful experiments, like for many high school students, was attractive enough to me to pursue my career in chemical engineering. I knew that my dreams would be realized one day when I landed at CSIR-Central Electrochemical Research Institute (CECRI), one of the 38 laboratories under the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research and a premier R&D institute dedicated solely to electrochemistry. I joined the B.Tech (Chemical and Electrochemical Engineering), a competitive course accepting just 35 students in each intake. I found CECRI a very motivating campus for anyone to learn beyond the bounds of knowledge. I was lucky to have taken classes from experienced chemical and electrochemical engineering research scientists. The uniqueness of CECRI is that B.Tech students get to work with scientists on their research projects.
I worked with multiple branches of electrochemistry, such as supercapacitors, electrocatalysis, Li-ion, and lead acid batteries. By working on these projects, I developed a good amount of knowledge in many analytical instrumentation techniques (XRD, SEM, TEM, UV-VIS, FT-IR). I realized my passion when I began working under the guidance of Dr. Subrata Kundu at the Electrochemical Process Engineering division of CECRI for the creation of novel non-precious metal electrodes for electrochemical water splitting. I co-authored two publications in the Inorganic Chemistry journal reporting the materials chemistry. Apart from the research experience, I learned about organizing skills, leadership, and teamwork when I organized the intercollegiate symposium named 'Intersect' in 2018 and 2019, which was a massive success with the attendance of collectively 1,100 delegates from around the nation.
A precious opportunity during my stint at CECRI came when I was selected for the prestigious 'Science Academies Summer Research Fellowship Programme' organized by three science academies of India (IASc, INSA, NASI), which facilitated me to participate in a fully funded summer internship at Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), Mumbai, India. I was inducted into the BARC's Chemistry division. I worked on the Polyaniline-Prussian blue supercapacitors and researched their redox chemistry. Moreover, presenting my findings at multiple national and international conferences (India International Science Festival, Alchemy, International Symposium on Advances in Electrochemical Science & Technology) in the presence of erudite delegates enhanced my confidence and motivated me further to pursue independent research as a career.
After graduating from B.Tech., I moved to the USA to start my Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering to expand my research knowledge in Fall 2019. My research in Dr. Xiaowei Teng’s research group at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) focused on understanding the structural chemistry of iron oxides and their relation to the performance of their applications in alkaline iron batteries. Being the fourth most abundant element on the earth’s crust makes iron a suitable candidate for utilization as anode material for grid storage devices. As a galvanized researcher, I learned multiple technical/software skills that helped me advance my critical understanding of many research fields outside my arena. In addition, I utilized the synchrotron source from the Brookhaven National Laboratory whenever our research group got the opportunity to conduct on-site experiments. I frequently used beamlines 28-ID-1 for operando XRD and 6-BM for X-ray absorption measurements, which helped us understand the fundamental mechanisms of our system. I worked with our group members to design and modify the upscaled electrochemical cell for the operando experiments to obtain the optimum capacity replicating the lab-scale setup in near-equilibrium conditions. I had published my research outcomes in high-impact journals like the Journal of American Chemical Society and Chemistry of Materials. I contributed to two US patents (one provisional) reporting on iron anode battery chemistry. I have presented my findings through talks and posters at the Materials Research Society and American Chemical Society conferences. I have successfully defended my Ph.D. thesis and graduated from WPI in May 2024.
The most significant opportunity during my Ph.D. came when I attended the prestigious 24th National School on Neutron and X-ray Scattering, organized by Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Argonne National Laboratory, among 60 students from all the North American colleges. I attended lectures presented by researchers from academia, industries, and national laboratories. Moreover, I gained engaged experience using synchrotron and neutron sources by conducting short experiments at both national laboratories.
Being interested in continuing academia, I began my career as a postdoctoral scholar at Stanford University. I work in the SLAC - Stanford Battery Center at the Applied Energy Division of SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and jointly with the Department of Materials Science and Engineering of Stanford University. My research includes developing innovative materials and performing synchrotron X-ray measurements for sulfur-related energy storage and aqueous batteries. I frequently utilize multiple synchrotron lights available in the majestic California, including the Stanford Synchrotron Light Source (SSRL), and the Advanced Light Source (ALS).
Cognate in College Teaching
I obtained the Certificate in College Teaching from the Center for Excellence and Innovation in Teaching and Learning (CEITL) at the University of New Hampshire, which offers multiple courses to prepare individuals to teach at academic institutions. The learning experience from this program made me confident to prepare myself for future careers in academia. The courses that I completed are as follows:
Course Design
Cognition, Teaching, and Learning
Classroom Research and Assessment Methods
Teaching and Learning with Multimedia
Teaching with Writing
Issues in College Teaching
I was delighted to participate and win the People's Choice award for the Regional 3-Minute Thesis (3MT) Competition in 2022 conducted by the Northeastern Association of Graduate Schools (NAGS). My winning presentation was titled "Storing Green Energy in Rust." The competition celebrates the exciting research conducted by students. Developed by The University of Queensland, 3MT cultivates students’ research communication skills. The competition supports their capacity to effectively explain their research in three minutes at a level appropriate to a non-specialist audience. A total of 31 American and Canadian institutional members of the Northeastern Association of Graduate Schools (NAGS) sent a finalist to this NAGS regional final. As a cohort of the Research Communications Academy, I got professional training on how to explain engagingly a complicated research topic to anyone without "dumbing down" the efforts that have been put into the work.
A person sometimes rises above their circumstances by the dint of hard work and intelligence. Still, they are the product of the environment in which they live. I firmly believe any person should give back more than they receive from this world. To assert my belief, I served as the Senator in the Graduate Student Senate (GSS) for the College of Engineering and Physical Sciences. GSS is the official voice of UNH's graduate student body, and I was the representative for graduate housing and campus life. During my period as the senator, we worked on establishing a new graduate student dormitory to mitigate the housing crisis. We also introduced a collaborative bike share program as an initiative for sustainable transportation. I was an active official blood donor for public healthcare institutions during my undergraduate.
