Prof. Raman Singh (President)
Ph.D, (Metallurgical Engineering), Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kharagpur
Professor, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering
Professor, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
Professor Raman Singh’s primary research interests are in the relationship of Nano-/microstructure and Environment-assisted degradation and fracture of metallic and composite materials, and Nanotechnology for Advanced Mitigation of such Degradations. He has also worked extensively on use of advanced materials (e.g., graphene) for corrosion mitigation, and stress corrosion cracking, and corrosion and corrosion-mitigation of magnesium alloys (including for the use of magnesium alloys for aerospace, defence and bioimplant applications).
Prof Singh’s professional distinctions and recognitions include: editor of a unique book on non-destructive evaluation (NDE) of corrosion, editor of a book on cracking of welds, editor-in-chief of two journals, member the Editorial Boards of a few journals, leader/chairperson of a few international conferences and regular plenary/keynote lectures at international conferences, over 235 peer-reviewed international journal publications, 15 book chapters/books and over 100 reviewed conference publications, and several competitive research grants (that includes 4 Discovery, 7 Linkage and one ITRH grants of Australian Research Council).
Prof Singh has supervised 50 PhD students. His vibrant research group at Monash University comprised/comproses of PhD students from different disciplines (Mechanical, Chemical, Materials and Civil Engineering, and Science) as well as from different cultural backgrounds (Australian, Middle-eastern, Chinese, Malaysian, Indian, African, American and Israeli).
(Mob: +61 416 718 944; raman.singh@monash.edu)
Mr. Satish K Varma (Vice-President)
B Tech (Electrical Engineering) at IIT Kanpur
Satish completed his B Tech (Electrical Engineering) at IIT Kanpur.
He and his wife, Nandini, have two adult children, Dr Shivesh Varma and Naina Varma.
After 9 years with ITC Ltd in India, Satish, with Nandini and a 1-yr old Shivesh, migrated to Australia and have made their home in Melbourne.
Satish’s professional work has spanned across Manufacturing, Project Management (Business & Technology transformation programs at Telstra, Toyota, Honda, Adecco, BUPA, Victorian Govt and management of a financial services business in partnership with Nandini.
Something many people don’t know about Satish is that he was Manufacturing Manager at Note Printing Australia (an entity of the Reserve Bank of Australia) during 1992 – 2000 when Australia’s currency notes were changed over from paper to polymer substrate.
Satish and Nandini love to travel and fondly recall their 6-week driving holiday across Europe and a 4-week holiday across the US. They are foodies and love socializing with like-minded people.
(Mob: +61 438 130 260; satishkvarma@gmail.com)
Mr Abaran Deep (Treasurer)
Abaran completed his B. Tech from IIT Delhi in 1990. He has been working as a Management Consultant in Australia since 1995. He currently shares the responsibility of running a consulting firm which helps businesses successfully deliver large and complex projects using new technologies. Abaran enjoys cycling, woodwork and occasionally listening to the rock groups from the IIT days.
(Mob: +61 407 319 732; abaran@d2e.net.au)
Mr. Aditya Vikram Khandelwal (Secretary)
Aditya completed his B. Tech in Chemical Engineering from IIT Delhi in 2016. He joined Glaxo Smith Kline Consumer Healthcare as a graduate engineer after that. In 2018, he decided to change his career to Information Technology and made the switch by attending University of Melbourne for a Masters in IT program.
He completed his Masters in 2021, after which he joined Telstra as a software engineer and has been working there since. Chief interests lie in cloud computing and IoT. His work has mostly involved working on backend APIs, platform automation and application gateways.
Apart from programming, Aditya enjoys running, swimming and occasionally, travelling.
(Mob: +61 479 092 503; adityavkhandelwal@gmail.com)
Dr. Srinivas Mettu (Committee member)
Dr. Srinivas Mettu (Masters from IIT Kanpur in 2005, PhD from Lehigh University, USA in 2012) is a chemical engineer with extensive research experience in printing, colloids and interfacial science, soft matter, hydrogels, and bioprocessing.
After PhD, Dr. Mettu worked at Xerox Research, USA in printing research for one and half year.
After moving to Melbourne in 2013, he worked for 6 years as a post-doctoral researcher at The University of Melbourne where he extensively worked in Food Engineering and Bioprocessing (Fermentation and Biofuels from Microalgae).
Dr. Mettu is currently working on 3 Grand Challenges Exploration (GCE) award grants from Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in the areas of tackling maternal/child malnutrition (Edible Microballoons for Nutrition Enhancement), new approaches for manufacturing novel gut microbial biotherapeutics (Novel radial gradient fibrous-bed bioreactors) and developing low-cost biodegradable sanitary pads using cellulose based sustainable materials to be used in developing countries (Eco-Bio sanitary pads to end period poverty)
Currently, Dr. Mettu is working as a senior research fellow at RMIT University Chemical and Environmental Engineering Department.
(Mob: +61 405 342 522; srini.mettu@gmail.com)
Dr Yogendra Vashishth (Committee Member)
Yogendra Vashishtha obtained his bachelor of engineering (Electrical) degree from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Roorkee (formerly known as University of Roorkee) in 1983, post graduate diploma in Management from Bajaj Institute (Bombay University) in 1987 and Ph.D. from IIT Mumbai in 1995.
Yogendra has nearly 35 years of professional experience including 13 years in Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) Mumbai and 22 years in Australian power transmission and distribution utilities as Senior/Principal Engineer and Manager/Senior Manager. Yogendra is an experienced asset management professional and has been active in innovation and research including management and commercialisation. Yogendra has followed through the energy industry transformation and is currently working in the area of smart grid particularly distributed energy resources such as energy storage and demand management.
Yogendra is a chartered professional engineer, Fellow of Institution of Australia (Engineers Australia) and a senior member of IEEE.
(Mob: +61 439 692 010; Yogendra.vashishtha@gmail.com)
Mr. Pankaj Rai (Committee Member)
Pankaj Rai graduated from IIT Roorkee in 1981 and completed post-graduation from NITIE, Mumbai in 1983. Pankaj has been working as Supply Chain Specialist with multinationals in Europe, Asia and Africa.
While Pankaj is continuing as Supply Chain Specialist in Melbourne, he has also been dedicating his life to provide artificial limbs to Land mine victims and physically challenged poor people of border areas (India Pakistan Border/Line of Control), conducting eye-camps / eye-operations for old aged cataract poor patients and children requiring eyes operations, providing scholarships and organising marriages for orphan children.You may see some works at Pritam Spiritual Foundation – Registered Charitable Trust (psf.org.in)
(Mob: +61 428 093 448; pankaj.rai@basf.com)
Dr. Vishal Chaugule (Committee Member)
I am an aerospace engineer and experimental fluid-dynamicist (B.Tech, IIT Bombay, 2008 + M.E, Indian Institute of Science, 2012 + Ph.D, Curtin University, 2017), and currently a research fellow in the Laboratory for Turbulence Research in Aerospace & Combustion (LTRAC) at Monash University (since 2019). Over the course of my research career, I have worked on a wide-range of topics in fields that span from aircraft design to aerosol inhalation with experimental investigations at the heart of all of those studies. I enjoy product design (wood and metal), tennis and Urdu poetry.
(Mob: +61 405 247 952; vishal.chaugule@monash.edu)