Keynote speakers

Bhaskar Patham is a Researcher at the General Motors R&D, India Science Lab, Bangalore. His research interests are in the areas of experimental and analytical rheology, complex fluids, polymer and composites processing, and processing-structure-property interrelationships in multi-phase polymeric systems and polymeric matrix composites. His current research is focused on the investigation of the impact of composite microstructure on the development of meso-level residual stresses during thermoset cure, and the effect of flow-induced microstructure on the adhesive strength of physically joined thermoplastics.

Bhaskar Patham holds a Ph. D. in Chemical Engineering and Materials Science from Michigan State University (2004). Prior to joining GM R&D, he was a Research Engineer with the General Electric Global Research Center at Bangalore.

G.K. Ananthasuresh (PhD, Michigan, 1994) is an Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering in the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India. His previous positions include Associate Professor in University of Pennsylvania and visiting professorships in University of Cambridge, UK, and Katholike Univesiteit, Leuven, Belgium. His current research interests include compliant mechanisms, kinematics, multi-disciplinary design optimization, microsystems technology, protein design, and cellular biomechanics. He serves on the editorial boards of six journals and is a co-author of more than 150 papers in journals and conferences as well as one edited book and six book-chapters. He is a recipient of the NSF Career Award in the USA and the Swarnajayanthi Fellowship in India.

Raj C Thiagarajan is a Senior Technologist at material mechanics lab of GE Global Research, Bangalore. Raj holds a PhD degree in Smart Composite Materials from Cranfield University, UK. Raj, has over 15 years experience in the field of structural design, computational material mechanics, multiphysics finite element analysis and innovate composite product development. Dr Thiagarajan is a recipient of several awards, including Safety Award from Institute of mechanics engineers, UK, Teaching excellence award from GE Corporate and Business impact project of the year award from GEGR, Physical Sciences. Raj has over 20+ patent filings and 15+ publications. Current research interest of Raj includes, multiphysics optimization, Multiscale modeling, and nano technology development.

Dr Rishi Singh is a CSIR Emeritus Scientist at the National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI), Hyderabad. He has been the Scientist-in-Charge of CSIR Centre of Mathematical Modeling and Computer Simulation, Bangalore (1996-99) and the Director of National Environmental Engineering Research Institute, Nagpur (1999-2003). He has over four decades of research experience in geophysical and environmental modeling and over one hundred and forty publications. He is a Fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences and Indian National Science Academy and has been a recipient of the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize.

Svante Littmarck is the CEO of the COMSOL group. He co-founded COMSOL in 1986. He holds a M.Sc. in Applied Mathematics from the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm. In 2004 he received an honorary doctoral degree from the Royal Institute of Technology.