Rama Govindarajan
Professor, TIFR Centre for Interdisciplinary Sciences
Tata Institute of Fundamental Research
Narsingi, Hyderabad 500075, India
e-mail: rama@tifrh.res.in
url: http://www.tifrh.res.in/tcis/tcis-faculty/rama-govindarajan.html
Research interests: Fluid dynamics -- flow instability, vortex dynamics, stratified and interfacial flows –
on all scales from laboratory to ocean and atmosphere.
Date of birth 26 Aug 1962
Nationality Indian
Academic qualifications
1991 -1994: Ph.D in Aerospace Engineering, IISc Bangalore. (GPA 7.8/8.0)
1984 -1986: M.S. in Chemical Engineering, Drexel University, Philadelphia. (GPA 3.9/4.0)
1979 -1984: B.Tech. in Chemical Engineering, IIT Delhi. (GPA 9.4/10.0)
Career -- positions held
July 2012-present: Professor in the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Hyderabad.
July 1998- June 2012: Faculty member (Professor since 2008) in the Engineering Mechanics Unit,
Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Bangalore. On lien to the TIFR.
1994: Post-Doctoral Fellow, Dept. of Aeronautics, Caltech (Indo-US Fellowship).
May 1988-June 1998: Scientist in the Computational and Theoretical Fluid Dynamics Division, National
Aerospace Laboratories, Bangalore. (Fellow during 1988-1991)
May 1987-May 1988: Project Engineer in the Aeronautical Development Agency, Bangalore.
Jun 1986-Apr 1987: Scientific Officer in the Joint Advanced Technology Programme, Indian Institute of
Science, Bangalore.
Refereed Publications
2014
Instabilities in viscosity-stratified flows. Rama Govindarajan & Kirti Chandra Sahu, Annual Review of
Fluid Mechanics, 46: 331-353.
Nonlinear dynamical systems, their stability and chaos. Lecture notes from the FLOW-NORDITA
Summer School on Advanced Instability Methods for Complex Flows, Stockholm, Sweden, 2013
Amol Marathe and Rama Govindarajan, Applied Mechanics Reviews, 66(2), 024802.
A minimal model for flow control on an airfoil using a poro-elastic coating. Divya Venkataraman,
Alessandro Bottaro and Rama Govindarajan. Journal of Fluids and Structures, 47, 150–164.
Attracting fixed points for heavy particles in the vicinity of a vortex pair. Ravichandran
Sivaramakrishnan, Prasad Perlekar and Rama Govindarajan. Physics of Fluids, 26, 013303.
Why a falling drop does not in general behave like a rising bubble, Manoj Kumar Tripathi, Kirti Chandra
Sahu & Rama Govindarajan. Scientific Reports (Nature publishing), 4, No. 4771.
Instability of a free shear layer in the vicinity of a viscosity-stratified layer, Kirti Chandra Sahu & Rama
Govindarajan, Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 752 (2014): 626-648.
On vortex filament methods for linear instability analysis of aircraft wakes, Juan A. Tendero, Vassilios
Theofilis, Miquel Roura & Rama Govindarajan, Aerospace Science and Technology, to appear.
2013
Linear stability of miscible two-fluid flow down an incline. R Usha, Outi Tammisola, & Rama
Govindarajan, Physics of Fluids, 25, 104102
Effect of density stratification on vortex merger. Harish Dixit & Rama Govindarajan, Physics of Fluids,
25, 016601.
Do liquid drops roll or slide on inclined surfaces? Sumesh P Thampi, R. Adhikari, and Rama
Govindarajan, Langmuir, 29, 3339−3346.
A unified framework for global instability mechanisms in the plane channel, diverging channel and
backward-facing step flow, Mamta R Jotkar, Jose Miguel Perez Perez, Vassilis Theofilis, Rama
Govindarajan, AIAA Paper 2013-2463.
BiGlobal and Point Vortex Methods for the Instability Analysis of Wakes, Juan A. Tendero, Pedro
Paredes, Miquel Rouraz, Rama Govindarajan, Vassilios Theofilis, AIAA Paper 2013-2820.
2012
Spatio-temporal linear stability of double-diffusive two-fluid channel flow. Kirti Chandra Sahu &
Rama Govindarajan, Physics of Fluids, 24 (5). 054103_1-054103_10. ISSN 0031-9171.
Stability of developing film flow down an inclined surface. Sarath Ramadurgam, RVK Chakravarthy,
Gaurav Tomar & Rama Govindarajan, Physics of Fluids, 24 (10). 102109_1-102109_14. ISSN 00319171.
Oscillatory settling in wormlike-micelle solutions: bursts and a long time scale. Nitin Kumar, Sayantan
Majumdar, Aditya Sood, Rama Govindarajan, Sriram Ramaswamy, AK Sood, Soft Matter, 8 (16). pp.
4310-4313. ISSN 1744-683X. This was designated as a “hot paper” by the journal.
Secondary instabilities in incompressible axisymmetric boundary layers: effect of transverse curvature.
Vinod, Narayanan & Rama Govindarajan, ASME Journal of Fluids Engineering, 134 (2). 024503_1024503_4. ISSN 0098-2202
The hydraulic jump and the shallow-water equations, Special Issue, International Journal of Advances in
Engineering Sciences and Applied Mathematics, Ratul Dasgupta and Rama Govindarajan, Springer, 3 (14). pp. 126-130. ISSN 0975-0770. Invited paper.
The plate reaction, and its effect on the shape and size of a liquid drop sitting on a solid surface inclined
to gravity, Sumesh P. Thampi, Vybhav Rao and Rama Govindarajan, International Journal of Science
Research 01, 02, 59-64, Invited paper, Festschrift issue.
Flow control via porous coating of compliant actuators: a simple interactive model Flow control via
porous coating of compliant actuators: a simple interactive model, Divya Venkataraman, Alessandro
Bottaro and Rama Govindarajan, Proc. IUTAM Symposium on Bluff Body Wakes.
On global instability of variable aspect ratio channel flows. Mamta R. Jotkar, Gayathri Swaminathan,
Vassilis Theofilis & Rama Govindarajan, AIAA 2012-3273, 42nd AIAA Fluid Dynamics Conference and
Exhibit.
2011
Linear stability of double diffusive two-fluid channel flow. Kirti Chandra Sahu & Rama Govindarajan.
Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 687, 529-539. This paper was shortlisted for “Focus on Fluids”.
Stability of a vortex in radial density stratification: role of wave interactions, Harish N Dixit & Rama
Govindarajan, Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 679, 582 - 615.
Vortex shedding patterns, their competition, and chaos in flow past inline oscillating rectangular
cylinders, Srikanth T, Harish N Dixit, Rao Tatavarti & Rama Govindarajan, Physics of Fluids 23, 073603.
The possible minimum energy shapes of static drops on inclined surfaces. Sumesh P.Thampi & Rama
Govindarajan, Physical Review E, 84, 046304.
Global instabilities in diverging channel flows, Gayathri Swaminathan, Kirti Chandra Sahu, A Sameen &
Rama Govindarajan, Theoretical and Computational Fluid Dynamics, 25, 53-64.
2010
Non-similar solutions of the viscous shallow water equations governing weak hydraulic jumps. Ratul
Dasgupta & Rama Govindarajan, Physics of Fluids 22, 112108.
Vortex-induced instabilities and accelerated collapse due to inertial effects of density stratification, Harish
N Dixit & Rama Govindarajan, Journal of Fluid Mechanics 646, 2010, 415 -439. This paper was featured
on the cover of JFM.
The possible equilibrium shapes of static pendant drops, P T Sumesh & Rama Govindarajan, Journal of
Chemical Physics 133, 144707.
An introduction to hydrodynamic stability, Anubhab Roy & Rama Govindarajan, in Rheology of Complex
Fluids ed. J Murali Krishnan, Springer.
Transient growth and why we should care about it, Rahul Bale & Rama Govindarajan, Resonance, 15,
No. 5, 441-457.
Shedding behaviour in flow past an inline oscillating square cylinder, Srikanth T., Harish N Dixit & Rama
Govindarajan, Proc. IUTAM Symposium on Bluff Body Wakes.
2009
Instabilities due a vortex at a density interface: gravitational and centrifugal effects. Harish N Dixit &
Rama Govindarajan, Proc. Seventh IUTAM Symposium on Laminar-Turbulent Transition, Ed. Schlatter &
Henningson, Springer.
Global Instabilities in Wall Jets. Gayathri Swaminathan, A Sameen & Rama Govindarajan, Proc. Seventh
IUTAM Symposium on Laminar-Turbulent Transition, Ed. Schlatter & Henningson, Springer.
Two-dimensional flow field in the vicinity of an accelerating bodies. Srikanth Rao, Rao Tatavarti & Rama
Govindarajan. Proc. Second National Conference of the Ocean Society of India.
Global instabilities in non-symmetric convergent-divergent channels. Gayathri Swaminathan & Rama
Govindarajan, Proc. Symposium on Global Flow Instability and Control.
2008
The relative roles of divergence and velocity slip in the stability of plane channel flow, K.C. Sahu, A.
Sameen and R. Govindarajan, European Physical Journal, Appl. Phys., 44, 101107.
Random Vortex-Street Model for a Self-Similar Plane Turbulent Jet, Victor S. Lvov, Anna Pomyalov,
Itamar Procaccia and Rama Govindarajan, Physical Review Letters, 101, 094503.
In what sense is a low-Reynolds number mixing layer stable? R. Narasimha, Pinaki Bhattacharya and
Rama Govindarajan, Proc. 12th Asian Congress of Fluid Mechanics, Daejeon, Korea.
2007
The effect of wall heating on instability of channel flow. A Sameen & Rama Govindarajan, Journal of
Fluid Mechanics, 577, 417-442. Corrigendum in 673 (2011), 603-605, with Rahul Bale.
Stability of miscible core-annular flows with viscosity stratification. B. Selvam, S. Merk, Rama
Govindarajan & E. Meiburg, Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 592, 23 -49.
Gravity-free hydraulic jumps and metal femtolitre cups. Manikandan Mathur, Ratul DasGupta, Neena
Susan John, N. R. Selvi, G. U. Kulkarni, & Rama Govindarajan, Physical Review Letters, 98, 164502.
Linear instability of entry flow in a pipe, Kirti Chandra Sahu & Rama Govindarajan, ASME Journal of
Fluids Engineering, 129, Issue 10, 1277-1280.
The effectiveness of wall heating as a control option for channel flow. A Sameen & Rama Govindarajan,
Sadhana, 32, 65-81.
The signature of laminar instabilities in the zone of transition to turbulence. N. Vinod & Rama
Govindarajan, Journal of Turbulence, 8, 1-17.
A general method for linear instability computations for flow through arbitrary two-dimensional
geometries. Gayathri Swaminathan & Rama Govindarajan, Proc. Seventh Asian CFD Conference.
Study of a lid-driven cavity in an axisymmetric geometry. Ratul DasGupta & Rama Govindarajan, Proc.
IUTAM Symposium on Unsteady Separated Flows and their Control.
2006
The critical Reynolds number of a laminar incompressible mixing layer from minimal composite theory.
Pinaki Bhattacharya, Maalika Manoharan, Rama Govindarajan & R Narasimha, Journal of Fluid
Mechanics, 565, 105-114.
A Facile Method of Producing Femtoliter Metal Cups by Pulsed Laser Ablation. Neena Susan John, N. R.
Selvi, Manikandan Mathur, Rama Govindarajan & G. U. Kulkarni, J. Physical Chemistry B, 110, 2297522978.
Flow past a rectangular cylinder in a stratified fluid. Harish Dixit, A Sameen, Rama Govindarajan, Proc.
Sixth Intl. Symposium on Stratified Flows, Perth, Australia (Ed: G.N. Ivey), 189-194.
Direct numerical simulation of a pressure driven channel flow with stable thermal stratification. Kaushik
Srinivasan & Rama Govindarajan, Proceedings of the 3rd BSME -ASME International Conference on
Thermal Engineering, Dhaka.
Instability of entry flow in a pipe. Kirti Chandra Sahu & Rama Govindarajan, Proc. Eleventh Asian
Congress of Fluid Mechanics.
Is a stable laminar mixing layer possible? Pinaki Bhattacharya, Rama Govindarajan & R Narasimha,
Proc. Eleventh Asian Congress of Fluid Mechanics.
2005
Manipulating transition to turbulence: A viscosity stratification does not always help. Vijayakumar
Chikkadi, A. Sameen & Rama Govindarajan, Physical Review Letters, 95, 264504.
Dynamical systems model of entrainment due to coherent structures. Srevatsan Muralidharan, KR
Sreenivas & Rama Govindarajan, Physical Review E, 72, 046308.
Drag reduction by polymer additives in decaying turbulence. Chirag Kalelkar, Rama Govindarajan, &
Rahul Pandit, Physical Review E, 72, 017301.
Stability of flow through a slowly diverging pipe. Kirti Chandra Sahu & Rama Govindarajan, Journal of
Fluid Mechanics, 531, 325-334.
Accurate estimate of disturbance amplitude variation from solution of minimal composite stability theory.
Rama Govindarajan and R. Narasimha, Theoretical and Computational Fluid Dynamics, 19 (4): 229-235.
Instabilities and transition in boundary layers. N. Vinod and Rama Govindarajan, Pramana J. Physics,
special issue, 64, No. 3, 323-332.
Super-linear speedup of a parallel multigrid Navier-Stokes solver on Flosolver. T. N. Venkatesh, V. R.
Sarasamma, Rajalakshmy S., Kirti C. Sahu & Rama Govindarajan, Current Science, 88, No. 4, 589-593.
Article: Tsunami relief: an observer’s viewpoint. 2005. Proceedings of Six months after the Tsunami,
NIAS, Bangalore.
2004
The pattern of breakdown of laminar flow into turbulent spots. N Vinod & Rama Govindarajan, Physical
Review Letters, 93, 114501.
Effect of miscibility on the linear instability of two-fluid channel flow. Rama Govindarajan, International
Journal of Multiphase Flow, 30/10, 1177-1192.
A minimal composite theory for stability of non-parallel compressible boundary-layer flow. Sanjeev Rao,
Rajeswari Seshadri & Rama Govindarajan, Theoretical and Computational Fluid Dynamics, 17, No. 4,
233-248.
The segregation instability of a sheared suspension film. Rama Govindarajan, PR Nott & S Ramaswamy,
Proc. Tenth Asian Cong. Fluid Mech., B31.
2003
Shell model for drag reduction with polymer additive in homogeneous turbulence. Roberto Benzi,
Elisabetta De Angelis, Rama Govindarajan & Itamar Procaccia, Phys. Rev. E, 68, 016308.
Stabilization of hydrodynamic flows by small viscosity variations. Rama Govindarajan, Victor S. L’vov,
Itamar Procaccia & A. Sameen, Phys. Rev. E, 67, 026310.
Stripes in sheared non-brownian suspensions with a free surface. Rama Govindarajan, P. R. Nott & S.
Ramaswamy, Physica A, 318/1-2, 80-84.
Are subtransitions in boundary layers a signature of laminar instability? N Vinod & Rama Govindarajan,
Proc. International Symposium on Advances in Fluid Mech., 200-210.
2002
“Universal behaviour of entrainment due to coherent structures in turbulent shear flow,” Rama
Govindarajan, Phys. Rev. Lett., 88, 134503.
“Stability analysis of an axisymmetric boundary layer,” N. Vinod, Hamsa Balakrishnan & Rama
Govindarajan, Proc. Ninth Asian Cong. Fluid Mech.
“Secondary instabilities in stratified channel flow,” A. Sameen, O.N. Ramesh & Rama Govindarajan,
Proc. Ninth Asian Cong. Fluid Mech.
“Instabilities in spatially developing flows: a fresh perspective,” Rama Govindarajan, Proc. Ninth Asian
Cong. Fluid Mech.
“Surprising effects of minor viscosity gradients,” Rama Govindarajan, J. Indian Inst. Sci., 82 121127.
2001
“Retardation of the onset of turbulence by minor viscosity contrasts,” Rama Govindarajan, V. S. L’vov &
I. Procaccia, Phys. Rev. Lett., 87, 174501.
“Estimating amplitude ratios in boundary layer stability theory: a comparison between two approaches,”
Rama Govindarajan & R. Narasimha, J. Fluid Mech., 439 403-412.
“Stabilization and destabilization of channel flow by location of viscosity-stratified fluid layer,” Balaji T.
Ranganathan & Rama Govindarajan, Phys. Fluids (Lett.), 13 No. 1, 1-3.
“A theory of suspension segregation in horizontal couette cells,” Rama Govindarajan, P. R. Nott & S.
Ramaswamy, Phys. Fluids (Lett.) 13, 12, 3517-3520.
“Stability of non-parallel flows: minimal composite theories”, R. Narasimha & Rama Govindarajan, Proc.
14th Australasian Fluid Mech. Conf.
“The transition zone in adverse pressure gradient boundary layers: results from stochastic simulations,”
N. Vinod & Rama Govindarajan, Proc. XV Intl. Symp. Air Breathing Engines, 1093.
2000
“Transition delay by surface heating: a zonal analysis for axisymmetric bodies,” Rama Govindarajan & R.
Narasimha, J. Fluid Mech., 418, 77-100.
“The role of the critical layer in the stability of viscous shear flows,” Rama Govindarajan, Current Sci.,
79, 6, 741-746.
“Minimal composite equations and the stability of non-parallel flows,” R. Narasimha & Rama
Govindarajan, Current Sci., 79, 6, 730-740.
1990’s
1999: “A low-order parabolic theory for two-dimensional boundary layer stability,” Rama Govindarajan
& R. Narasimha, Phys. Fluids, 11 No. 6, 1449-1458.
1999: “Low-order Stability Theory for Compressible Boundary Layer Flow,” Deepanjan Mitra, Rajeswari
Seshadri, Sanjeev Rao & Rama Govindarajan, in Laminar-Turbulent Transition, Springer, 487-492.
1999: The transition zone on a heated axisymmetric body," Rama Govindarajan & R. Narasimha, in
Laminar-Turbulent Transition, Springer, 351-356.
1999: “Stability of weakly non-similar swept-wing boundary layers,” Rama Govindarajan & R.
Narasimha, in Laminar-Turbulent Transition, Springer, 193-198.
1999: “Turbulence and Flying Machines,” Resonance, 4, No. 11, 54-62.
1998: “Mixing and chaotic fluid particle trajectories in the flow around two leap-frogging vortex rings,”
Rama Govindarajan, A. Leonard & S. Wiggins, in Lecture Notes in Physics, ed. C.-H. Bruneau,
Springer, 482-487.
1998: “Jamming mechanisms in homogeneous and heterogeneous traffic flow,” Rizwan Ameer, Deepak
Raj M & Rama Govindarajan, Proc. 3rd Asian Comput. Fluid. Dyn. Conf., 2, 144-149.
1998: “Stability of swept wing boundary layers: a low-order theory,” Rama Govindarajan, R.
Narasimha & Avinash Lohit, Proc. 3rd Asian Comput. Fluid. Dyn. Conf., 2, 56-61.
1998: “Vortex sheets in plane strain and the fine structure of turbulence,” R. Narasimha & Rama Govindarajan, in Recent Advances in Fluid Mechanics, ed. by PL Sachdev & M Venkatachalappa, Gordon &
Breach, 1 67-75.
1997: “A low-order theory for stability of non-parallel boundary layer flows,” Rama Govindarajan & R.
Narasimha, Proc. Roy. Soc. Lond. A, 453, 2537-2549.
1997: “Absolute instability in spatially developing two-dimensional wakes,” Rama Govindarajan, R.
Narasimha & J.S.B. Gajjar, Proc. 7th Asian Cong. Fluid Mech., 1, 163-166.
1995: “Stability of spatially developing boundary layers in pressure gradients,” Rama Govindarajan &
R. Narasimha, J. Fluid Mech., 300, 117-147.
1991: “The role of residual nonturbulent disturbances on transition onset in two-dimensional boundary
layers,” Rama Govindarajan & R. Narasimha, J. Fluids Engg., Trans. ASME, 113, 147-149.
Reviewing and Editorial Board
On the Editorial Advisory Board of the Physics of Fluids.
Was on the Editorial Board of Sadhana.
Reviewer for about 30 papers a year for the Physics of Fluids, Physical Review Letters, Physical Review
E, Journal of Fluid Mechanics, Langmuir, European Journal of Mechanics B Fluids, Pramana, Sadhana,
ASME Journal of Fluids Engineering, etc.
External examiner for PhD theses in IIT Kanpur, IIT Chennai and KTH Stockholm.
Proceedings edited:
Sixth IUTAM Symposium on Laminar-Turbulent Transition, Springer 2006.
Advances in Fluid Mechanics, with M Alam, ON Ramesh and KR Sreenivas, Bangalore, July 2003.
Teaching, Mentoring, Outreach
Courses Taught
My usual method is to include a large component of assignments and project work, 4-5 tests and a final
exam. Courses taught:
“Continuum Mechanics” 5 credits, TCIS, Autumn 2014 (to co-teach).
“Mathematical Methods” 5 credits, TCIS, Autumn 2014.
“Nonlinear dynamics” 5 credits, TCIS, Spring 2014, co-taught.
“Mathematical Methods” 5 credits, TCIS, Autumn 2013.
“Advanced continuum mechanics” 4 credit. TCIS, TIFR-UoH joint course, Spring 2013 (co-taught).
“Bridge Mathematics” (MM102 3 credit) Univ of Hyderabad 2012. This is the only undergraduate course
in this list.
“Mathematical Methods” (JF201, 3 credit) Aug-Dec, 2000, 2001, 2009, 2010 (co-taught), 2011.
“Introduction to Fluid Mechanics” (JF203, 3 credit) Aug-Dec 2007 and 2008.
“Nonlinear dynamics: applications to Fluid Mechanics” (JF202, 3 credit) Aug-Dec 2005 and 2006.
“Advanced Topics in Fluid Mechanics” (JF301, 3 credit) co-taught, Jan-Apr 2001 and 2002.
Also taught small portions of courses elsewhere (in Mechanical Engineering, IISc Bangalore, Aerospace
Engineering, IIT Mumbai and SN Bose Centre), and in refresher programmes for teachers.
PhD theses supervised
Name
Sumesh P Thampi
Anubhab Roy
Divya Venkataraman
Thesis topic
Statics and Dynamics of Drops on Solid
Surfaces: Theory and Simulations
PhD Present affiliation
2012 Oxford University, Postdoctoral
Fellow
Singular Eigenfunctions in Hydrodynamic
Stability : The Roles of Rotation,
Stratification and Elasticity. Co-advisor:
Ganesh Subramanian
2012 Cornell University, Postdoctoral
Fellow
Drag reduction by surface-coating of cilia on
airfoils. Co-advisor: Alessandro Bottaro,
registered in the University of Genova.
2013
Harish N Dixit
Some studies on vortices with density
stratification
2011 IIT Hyderabad, Faculty member
Ratul DasGupta
A computational and semi-analytical
study of laminar, standing hydraulic
jumps
2011 IIT Bombay, Mumbai, Faculty
member
Gayathri
Swaminathan
Global stability studies of some spatially
developing flows
2011 AIRBUS Industrie
Vinod Narayanan
Stability and transition in boundary
layers: effect of transverse curvature and
pressure gradient
2007 IIT Gandhinagar, Faculty
member
Kirti Chandra Sahu
Novel stability problems in pipe flows
2007
A. Sameen
Stability of plane channel flow with viscosity stratification. Co-advisor: ON
Ramesh, registered at IISc.
2005 IIT Madras, Chennai, Faculty
member
IIT Hyderabad, Faculty member
MS Theses supervised
Name
Thesis topic
Anirban Sinha
Baroclinic instabilities in shear flows (Coadvisor: Jai Sukhatme)
2013
Columbia Univ. (PhD
student)
Rohith
Swaminathan
Merger of multiple vortices
2012
MIT /WHOI (PhD
student)
Vortex shedding patterns, their competition, and
MS
Present affiliation
Srikanth
Toppaladoddi
chaos in flow past inline oscillating rectangular
cylinders
2011 Oxford University (PhD
student)
Rahul Bale
Transient growth in stratified channel flow
2009
Kaushik Srinivasan
Direct numerical simulation of transition in
unstably stratified Poiseuille flow
2007 Scripps Institute, San
Diego
Pinaki
Bhattacharyya
A linear stability analysis of the spatiallydeveloping incompressible plane laminar mixing
layer using minimal composite theory (coadvisor: R. Narasimha)
2007
Antina Ghosh
Simulation of nano-scale flows by molecular
dynamics methods (co-advisor: Srikanth Sastry)
2007 Tel Aviv University
Kirti Chandra Sahu
Numerical computation of spatially developing
flows by full multigrid technique
2003
Somewhere in Japan
(Postdoc)
KU Leuven (Postdoc)
IIT Hyderabad (Faculty
member)
Present PhD students:
At TIFR
Cloud formation
Starting
Year
2011
Mamta Raju Jotkar
Instabilities in converging-diverging channels
2010
Sharath Jose
Instabilities in stratified flows
2010
Name
Ravichandran Sivaramakrishnan
Thesis area
Rashmi Ramadugu (co-advisor:
Prasad Perlekar)
2013
S Ganga Prasath (co-advisor:
Narayanan Menon)
2013
Sumit Birwa (co-advisor: Narayanan
Menon)
2013
Elsewhere
Thesis area
Year
Registered at
Manoj Tripathi
Multiphase flows with evaporation. Main advisor:
Kirti Sahu
2012
IIT Hyderabad
Juan Angel Tendero
Ventanas
Vortex instabilities in aircraft wakes (I am an
informal co-advisor.) Main advisor: Vassilis
Theofilis
2010
University of Madrid
Name
Past Post-Doctoral fellows (formal and informal, with present affiliation as faculty members): Gaurav
Tomar (IISc), Gaurav Sharma (IIT Roorkee), Amol Marathe (BITS Pilani), Vishwanath Sastry (NITK
Surathkal), Tapan Naskar (SN Bose Institute), Rajeswari Seshadri (Pondicherry Central University),
Ashwin Vaidya (Montclair State University), Soumyajit Mukherjee (IIT Bombay).
Present Post-Doctoral Fellow Aarthi Sekharan (jointly with R Narasimha)
Encouraging young people
Over twenty young people have authored their first paper with me. To excite students about fluid
dynamics I give research-overview lectures, and lectures as chief guest, at national events for extratalented children (JC Bose Programme, Kishore Vaigyanik, NAL), at local schools, colleges, in the
Rotary Club etc. many times a year. For example, I was invited to the Visvesvaraya Ind & Tech Museum,
Bangalore to give a popular science lecture on International Museum Day. I have been in panels of
industry and academic leaders. I also and teach and help run pedagogical courses, e.g. under the AIM
network (see http://www2.eng.cam.ac.uk/~mpj1001/AIM_home.html). I have taught several refresher
courses for college and school teachers.
I have advised over 100 summer and short-term students on research projects so far. Out of about 20
students I have guided under the JNC-SRFP programme, five have won the prestigious Rajiv Gandhi
Fellowship for their project, which is given to about 10 students every year (selected out of 6000
applicants across India and across all disciplines).
I have written invited articles in the books “Lilavati’s daughters” brought out by the Indian Academy of
Sciences (http://www.ias.ac.in/womeninscience/LD_essays/117-120.pdf), and “A girl’s guide to a life in
science”. Maybe because of this, many young women (and men) who wish to do science research
approach me for mentoring and I try my best to encourage them. I have been a panelist and speaker in
various Women in Science fora.
Recognition
 Editorial Advisory Board member, Physics of Fluids. 2014 onwards.
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Member, IUTAM Symposia Panel for Fluid Mechanics, 2014 onwards.
Fellow of the American Physical Society (Division of Fluid Dynamics). Elected in 2013.
Honorary Professor, Mathematics Department, University of Hyderabad (a Central University),
from January 2013.
Mary Sears Fellow, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 2012.
Fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences, Bangalore. Elected in 2009.
Won the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize (Engineering Sciences), 2007.
Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences, Allahabad. Elected in 2004.
“Young Scientist of the Year 1997” and “Outstanding scientist” of the year 1996 at the National
Aerospace Laboratories.
“Freedom of the House” for the best outgoing student, Kailash Hostel, IIT Delhi, 1984.
Invited to write a review paper on Instabilities in viscosity-stratified flows for the Annual Reviews
of Fluid Mechanics, 2014.
Invited as a distinguished Woman Alumnus of IIT Delhi to speak at the Golden Jubilee
Celebrations on International Women’s Day, 2011.
Related Activities
Member of a Panel of Experts, Science & Engineering Research Board (SERB), Department of Science &
Technology (DST) Government of India. This panel decided which proposals to DST under certain
schemes get funding.
Member, Engineering Sciences Research Committee, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research
(CSIR), Government of India. This panel decides which proposals to CSIR get supported. I am also on
committees which decide on prize winners, e.g. Young Scientist.
Member, Advisory Committee of the Chemical Engineering Department, IIT Hyderabad. This committee
reviews the progress of the department.
Member, Indian National Committee for the Asian Congress of Fluid Mechanics, INCOAF. This
committee decides, among other things, who the invited speakers from India will be.
Member of the Second (2010) and Third (2012) UK-India Science and Innovation Councils. This council
consisted of ministerial level meetings to decide on scientific cooperation between the two countries.
Member of Faculty Selection Committees at IISER Kolkata and IIT Hyderabad.
Steering committee member of the Indo-European network on Advanced Instability Methods (AIM)
http://www-diva.eng.cam.ac.uk/AIM Network/AIM home.html. Was funded by the UK Engineering and
Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), and now continues under its own funding.
PI from India on a Marie Curie International Research Staff Exchange Scheme (IRSES) project,
ICOMASEF (Instability and COntrol of MAssively SEparated Flows).
PI, with Prof. Benoit Pier, on an Indo-French research project on ``Rotating and curved boundary layer
flows”, under CEFIPRA. Have been PI of several projects funded by DRDO, NPOL etc. and have been
co-investigator in an Indo-UK project, as well as one funded by Boeing Aerospace.
Visiting positions
2012: Mary Sears Fellow at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, USA.
2006: Visiting Professor, University of California, Santa Barbara, USA. Collaboration with Eckart
Meiburg.
2007, 2002, 2001: Visiting Professor (Visiting Scientist in 2001), Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel.
Collaboration with Itamar Procaccia.
Talks
Invited talks in international meetings
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(Royal Society) Commonwealth Science Conference, Bengaluru, November 2014.
Banff International Research Station (BIRS) workshop on Mathematical Modelling of Particles in Fluid Flow,
Banff, Canada, August 2014.
Kavli Institute of Theoretical Physics (KITP) Programme on Fluid-Mediated Transport in Geophysical Flows, Santa
Barbara, November 2013.
Workshop on “Transport of particles in turbulent flows” ICTS, Bangalore, October 2013.
“Instabilities driven by viscosity stratification” Indo-French Workshop on Deep-Earth, Bangalore, September 2013.
Fluids Days. Bangalore, July 2013.
“Nonlinear stability and dynamics” FLOW-NORDITA Summer School on Advanced Instability Methods for
Complex Flows, Stockholm May 2013.
“Film flow down an inclined plate and the shallow water equations’’ Fifth Indo-Israel meeting, October 2011,
Kochi.
Plenary speaker at the AIM-ED International Graduate School on Stability, Transition to Turbulence and flow
Control, Cambridge University, Aug 2011. Topics covered: Nonlinear dynamics, instabilities in viscosity-stratified
flows.
“Hydraulic jumps” Humboldt Kolleg on Self-Organised Criticality, Dynamics of Complex Systems, Bangalore, Feb
2011.
“The shallow-water equations and the hydraulic jump” International Meeting on Recent Advances in Mechanics, IIT
Chennai, Jan 2011.
“Are the shallow water equations correct near Froude number=1?” Indo-European Workshop on Advanced
Instability Methods, JNCASR, Jan 2011.
Perspectives in Non-Linear Dynamics, PNLD III, 2010 and PNLD I, 2004, Satellite meetings of STATPHYS Cairns
and STATPHYS Bangalore, on Hydraulic jumps and turbulent spots, respectively.
“Two gravity-driven flows” Indo-French Meeting on Soft Interfaces, ESPCI Paris, July 2010.
“The transition to turbulence in shear flows.” International Conference on Turbulence, IIT Kanpur, December 2009.
“ A summary of stability studies in this group”, India-UK Workshop on Non-normality, IIT Chennai and JNCASR
Bangalore, January 2009.
“Instabilities in variable-property flows and the continuous spectrum.” Workshop on Wall Bounded Shear Flows:
Transition and Turbulence. Isaac Newton Institute for Mathematical Sciences, Cambridge, September 2008.
“ Death of a vortex at the hands of a (spiralling) density interface”. Fourth Indo-Israeli Conference on Condensed
Matter Physics, Tel Aviv, November 2008.
The hydraulic jump in gravity, and surface-tension-driven flows. Fourth Indo-Israeli Conference on Condensed
Matter Physics, Tel Aviv, November 2008.
“The breakdown to turbulence in stratified environments. International Conference on Nonlinear Dynamics and
Turbulence, Bangalore, July 2008.
Flow instabilities: an introduction. Three lectures. IMI International conference and workshop on turbulence and
nonlinear dynamics, Bangalore, January 2008.
Research in our group: a jhalak. Fluids Days, JNCASR Bangalore, January 2008.
Instabilities in shear flow, invited poster, Second Indo-US Frontiers of Science Meeting, Irvine, California, January
2007.
Gravity-free hydraulic jumps and metal femtocups. NCBS/JNC/Harvard Symposium, August 2006.
Wall heating as a flow control option, (International) Conference on Flow Control and Diagnostics, Coorg, February
2006.
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Instabilities of fluid flows and the transition to turbulence, India Symposium, TWOWS Third General Assembly and
International Conference on Impact of Women's Research on Science and Technology in the New Millennium,
Bangalore, November 2005.
Instabilities and transition to turbulence in pipe flows, Third Indo-Israeli Conference on Condensed Matter Physics,
Puri, April 2005.
Global Flow Instability and Control III-V, Crete, Greece, 2005-2012. (I was invited to one of these meetings and a
contributor at another.)
“Instabilities in spatially developing flows: a fresh approach,” Ninth Asian Congress of Fluid Mechanics, Isfahan,
Iran, 2002.
“A critical-layer-driven instability in miscible two-fluid channel flow,” International Workshop on Miscible
Interfaces, Paris, Jul 2001.
“Minimal composite stability theory for three-dimensional boundary layer stability,” International Workshop on
Fluid Mechanics - FLUMEC 2000, IIT Chennai, Jan 2000.
Plenary (contributed) lecture at the Sixteenth International Congress of Numerical Methods in Fluid Dymanics,
Arcachon, France, 1998.
``Low-order theory for stability of non-parallel boundary layer flows,'' (International) Discussion Meeting on
Instability and Transition in Fluid Flows, Indian Academy of Sciences, Nov 1996.
Invited talks in Indian meetings:
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UOP India Technical Community Symposium, Gurgaon September 2014.
IITB Climate Workshop, March 2014.
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Stabilization methods for singularly perturbed differential equations, SERC Workshop, IISc Bangalore, Oct.
2013.
“Introduction to Fluid Mechanics” 3 lectures, DST-SERC (Department of Science and Technology Government
of India, Science & Engineering Research Council) Schools on Nonlinear Dynamics, Kolkata December 2012,
and twelve lectures in the Third SERC School (with a focus on Turbulence and Pattern formation) in Kolkata,
2006.
“Big effects of small perturbations”, Golden Jubilee Conference on Women in Science and Technology
(lectures by distinguished alumnae), IIT Delhi, Mar 2011.
“Vortices in density gradients: Mergers, split-ups and death” 76th Annual Meeting of the Indian Academy of
Sciences, Goa, November 2010.
“Introduction to fluid mechanics” 5 lectures, School on Nonequilibrium Statistical Physics, April 2010, RRI
Bangalore.
“Introduction to flow stability” DST SERC School, Jan 2010, IIT Chennai.
Keynote lecture, National Training Programme on CFD, Visakhapatnam, November 2009.
“The role of instability in high Reynolds number fluid mechanics” Second National Conference of Shanti
Swarup Bhatnagar Award Winners, Devi Ahilya Vishwavidyalay, Indore, July 2009.
“Introduction to flow stability”, IMI Workshop on PDE and related analysis, September 2009.
“Transient growth in shear flow and why we should care about it” 75 th Anniversary Conference of the Physics
Department, Indian Institute of Science, May 2009.
“Accelerated annihilation of a vortex due to density stratification”, Centenary Conference of the Aerospace
Engineering Department, IISc Bangalore, May 2009.
“The Boussinesq approximation and vortical flows in the ocean”, Second National Conference of the Ocean
Society of India, Vishakhapatnam, April 2009.
Fluid mechanics: old answers to new questions, new answers to old questions. Inaugural address at the National
Workshop of the Ocean Society of India on Emerging trends in Ocean Science and Technology, Kochi, March
2007.
Instabilities in shear flow of variable property fluids, Third Complex Fluids Symposium, IIT Kanpur, December
2006.
The laminar-turbulent transition region: puzzles and progress, Perspectives in Nonlinear Dynamics, Satellite
meeting of the STATPHYS-22 Conference, IIT Chennai, July 2004.
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Symposium on Stability Analysis of Differential Equations with Applications to Flow Problems, IIT
Kanpur March 2014.
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Introduction to nonlinear dynamics and turbulence. (a series of five lectures) Workshop on Nonlinear Dynamics
and Turbulence SN Bose Centre, Kolkata, Mar 2003.
Invited talks at other National Conferences in Kochi, Chandigarh, Bangalore, Kolkata, Aligarh, Chennai, Mumbai,
Kanpur, Ahmedabad, Coorg.
Named lectures
“Fluid mechanics – from fundamentals to frontiers” The 2011 Popli Memorial Lectures (set of three),
St. Stephens College, Delhi.
“Unconvering patterns in the laminar-turbulent transition” The 2004 CNR Rao Oration Award Lecture,
JNCASR Bangalore.
Recent Seminars/ Colloquia
At IIT Bombay Mumbai, IISER Pune, Brown University, Harvard University, University of Michigan at Ann Arbor,
University of California at Santa Barbara, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, KTH Mechanics, IIT Ropar, IIT
Madras Chennai, University of Hyderabad, TIFR (Natural Sciences Colloquium), TIFR-CAM.
Recent Outreach Activities
Panelist at the Women in Science Session, Dynamics Days Asia Pacific, IIT Madras, July 2014.
Speaker at ``R& D initiatives for Women Scientists and Technologists’’ Engineering Staff College of
India, Hyderabad February 2014. Advising women on how to stay relevant in research.
Conference Organisation
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IUTAM Symposium on Multiphase Flows with Phase Change, December 2014. On the scientific Committee.
Perspectives in Nonlinear Dynamics (PNLD-V) A satellite meeting of STATPHYS-25, UoH-TIFR, Hyderabad,
July 2013. One of the organisers.
Indo-European meeting on Instabilities in Shear Flows, Jan 2012, IIT Mumbai, one of the three organisers.
Indo-European meeting on Instabilities in Shear Flows, Jan 2011, 2010 and 2009, JNCASR Bangalore and IIT
Chennai, one of the two organisers (under the AIM Network).
Seventh IUTAM Symposium on Laminar-Turbulent Transition, 2009, Stockholm, on the scientific committee.
IISc Mathematics Initiative Workshop and Conference on Turbulence and Nonlinear Dynamics, Bangalore JanFeb 2008, one of the organisers.
Fluids Days, JNCASR Bangalore Dec 2007 - Jan 2008, one of the organisers.
Sixth IUTAM Symposium on Laminar-Turbulent Transition, 13-17 Dec 2004: chairman of the scientific and
organising committees. http://www.jncasr.ac.in/iut04
International Symposium for Advances in Fluid Mechanics, JNCASR Bangalore 24-25 July 2003: one of the
organisers. http://www.jncasr.ac.in/emu
SAROD-2003 Symposium on Applied Aerodynamics and Design of Aerospace Vehicles: one of the organisers.
http://www.ada.gov.in/sarod/