Posts on telecommunications, materials science,energy,sustainable development and international relations
Recently I had a chance to engage with representatives from IIT Kanpur and University of Waterloo during events organised by Society for Information Display and IHFC, IIT Delhi. In the decade and half that has passed since I graduated, an unmistakable change can be noticed in the way educational institutions view post graduation employment opportunities for their students. While campus placements…
Last month,July 22, I attended Dr André Anders' conference on the physics of vacuum arcs[1] organised by the American institute of physics. VA are fascinating because of the complex phenomenon that leads to the ignition of plasma in vacuum. Starting as an initial field emission the current through metallic imperfections increases with voltage leading to rapid resistive heating which causes…
Last September at the Display Conference I had the good fortune to learn about polariser films used in LCD TVs from Mr Vasu Kulkarni. These films provide the critical function of blocking or allowing light from a pixel leading to the formation of images on the display screen. His talk gave me the opportunity to understand the complexities involved in the manufacturing of an LCD display unit. From…
Over the last couple of months I've invested a healthy amount of time in engaging with US representatives working at the intersection of academia,industry and policy. Earlier in May the US Dept of commerce organised a “Select USA campaign” that was meant to position the USA as the leading destination for investment and I had an opportunity to connect with several Foreign service officers in Delhi…
It was a great honor for me to observe the United Nations General Assembly informal interactive dialogue on Accelerating the global energy transition. President Annalena Baerbock led the discussion emphasizing that while the transition to renewable energy is happening at an unprecedented speed it is important to ensure that this transition is fair [1]. Her statement was backed by numbers.…
Happy to participate in a CSIS online event for a discussion on the implications of the NATO summit organised earlier this month in Ankara,Turkiye. Former PM of Netherlands,Mr. Mark Rutte has been leading NATO as the Secretary General for an year now and at Ankara he presented his vision for “NATO 3.0”[1-2] In his speech he highlighted NATO moving away from ‘planning’ to ‘implementation’ and his…
I was glad to participate in this month's ASM advanced materials manufacturing committee meeting for a talk on Nickel Titanium alloys and its additive manufacturing process development via artificial intelligence and machine learning. Dermot Brabazon Prof. at the Dublin City University and deputy director at I-Form ,the publicly funded institution leading Ireland's manufacturing innovation,…
Senator Chris Coons recently critiqued policies of president Trump by saying "Trump promised to lower costs on day 1, and yet as prices keep rising on everything from gas to groceries to health care, he calls affordability a "hoax". It doesn’t need to be this way. Americans deserve leaders who care about affordability and are willing to do something about it."…
7 Jul 2026 I thank the Renewable Thermal Collaborative (RTC) for organising a webinar highlighting some of the recent achievements of thermal energy storage technologies. Conceptually thermal-energy storage is quite simple. You heat up a material and it stores energy either in the form of sensible heat, latent heat (phase change) or thermochemically. At medium grade, with temperatures of up to…
2 Jul 2026 Great honor to be a part of discussion led by Prof Vasi,Electrical Engg,IIT Bombay on industry academia collaboration. Research has always had to and will always have to balance funding from government and industry while pursuing something that is truly novel ,yet can have practical applications in the future. Directed research has its merit. But nothing beats original ,curiosity driven…
I thank the American institute of physics for organising their monthly Physics of plasma webinar series and for giving me. a chance to interact with some of the leading researchers in plasma science. On several occasions I have remarked that plasma science is possibly one of the most important areas of research that has the potential to impact almost every engineering and scientific domain.…
I thank the American Center for inviting me to a panel discussion on USA’s engineering excellence that has made the USA the leader in deep space exploration. While NASA had its origin in Aeronautics, its pivot towards space exploration during the cold war era birthed the space industry. Since then it has launched several lunar,mars,outerplanetary and deep space missions collecting invaluable data…
I thank ASM for organising a technical discussion on lithium ion battery interconnects. A typical battery pack could contain anywhere from a couple to thousands of cells depending upon whether it's being used for consumer electronics or high power EVs. Battery chemistry requires different electrode materials and the same battery chemistry requires different current collectors at Cathode(Al) and…
11 June 2026 Earlier this June I had the pleasure of participating in two highly relevant discussions for accelerating the renewable energy adoption in the EU. The meeting on Renewable Energy Directive (RED III) implementation was focussed on policy changes required to achieve the goal. Whereas the meeting on grid resilience focussed more on the technical aspects that could actually make renewable…
I thank the engineering export promotion council of India for organising a roadshow for the upcoming Pharma Tech expo in Sep 2026. I would also like to thank the I-hub foundation for cobotics at IIT Delhi for organising an online discussion on the evolution of healthcare with development of tooling and technology across successive industrial revolutions. The two events presented a unique…
I thank the society of automotive engineers for organising the second annual Aerospace Materials & Manufacturing Summit, to discuss the material challenges that the aerospace and defense industry is currently facing and some of the new opportunities that have arisen due to innovation in materials manufacturing and processing. As someone who deeply cares about material science it was a great…
I thank the European commission for organising EU space days and giving me a chance to participate in the conference online. It was a great pleasure to listen to the esteemed speakers sharing their vision on how to strengthen the EU space industry. This was my second engagement with the European Space Agency following the virtual event in January. [1-2] This year's event took place at Cyprus which…
May 26 2026 I thank the Africa Solar Industry Association for organising an online conference on energy storage technologies to meet Africa’s growing demand in the renewable energy sector. For the last 6 months I have been intensely networking with stakeholders in the African energy sector. In January I engaged with Damilola Ogunbiyi, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General (UN SRSG)…
May 15 2026 I thank ASM sustainable manufacturing committee for organising a highly informative talk by Dr Sweta Baruah on the topic of Materials Upcycling in Additive manufacturing. As it stands AM is far more material efficient than traditional manufacturing processes— producing less waste than subtractive manufacturing techniques (milling/turning/drilling/grinding). Yet feedstock cost in AM…
13th May 2026 I thank the American Institute of Physics (AIP) for organising an exceptional talk by Dr Merav Opher on the SHIELD (Solar wind with Hydrogen Ion charge Exchange and Large-Scale Dynamics) project, which she is heading at Boston University in collaboration with NASA and several other institutions. It was a great privilege for me to learn from one of the leading plasma astrophysicists…
Extremely happy to announce that the bhū travel and tourism council has signed an MoU with greek travel agency Kalamaki Travel.Established in 1989 Kalamaki is one of the oldest, continually serving travel agencies on the island of Crete that has been delighting visitors for decades by creating some of the finest travel experiences. Our agreement emerges as a response to one of the toughest…
ABSTRACT Traditional thermodynamic systems are constrained by Carnot efficiency limits, restricting the conversion of low-grade thermal or cold energy into useful work. This study explores a novel approach to overcome these limitations through combined heat (or cold) and power generation, enhancing overall system efficiency. Central to this approach is the proposed AJ cycle engine , a…
April 15 2026 I thank the global landscapes forum for inviting me to a digital conference on sustainable palm oil production. The panel discussion featured several leading experts in the industry brainstorming on what it would take to induce a paradigm shift in the palm oil production and how it could be financed. Palm oil fulfills nearly 30-40% of global vegetable oil demand. It finds application…
I thank the Department of materials science and engineering @IIT Delhi for organising a highly informative talk on refractory alloys and CMC materials by professor Rahul Mitra. Prof Mitra presented 2 metallic systems Mo-Si and Nb-Si. Both material systems possess high temperature oxidation resistance exceeding 1000°C. Glassy SiO2 layer formed on the surface being the primary oxidation inhibitor in…
Mediterranean Futures: Spain, Africa, and New Alliances 27 March 2026 A couple of weeks ago I had a chance to listen to Mr Juan Antonio March Pujol ,Ambassador of Spain to India at a conference in New Delhi where he advocated for growth of ties between India and Spain. About 70 thousand people of Indian origin live in Spain currently and spain is already among the most popular tourist destinations…