Image Courtesy: Northwestern University

IIT Bombay alumnus, Prof. Neelesh A. Patankar (B.Tech., Mechanical Engineering, 1993), has been appointed faculty director of the Northwestern-Argonne Institute for Scientific and Engineering Excellence (NAISE). A distinguished researcher in fluid mechanics and computational modelling, Prof. Patankar has been a faculty member at Northwestern University since 2000. His myriad accolades include receiving the Prominent Researcher Award at the Microflow and Interfacial Phenomena Conference (2023), being elected as a Fellow of the American Physical Society (2012), and receiving the Charles Deering McCormick Professor of Teaching Excellence (2014–2017). He holds an MS and PhD in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania.

Prof. Patankar’s research spans diverse fields, from advanced computational modelling to biomedical innovation. His recent study, published in Nature Biomedical Engineering, introduces a groundbreaking physics-based metric to predict aortic aneurysms—dangerous conditions that often go undetected until it’s too late. The “flutter instability parameter” (FIP), derived from a single 4D flow MRI scan, has demonstrated a remarkable 98% accuracy in predicting aneurysms up to three years in advance, offering the potential for life-saving early interventions.

As he takes the helm at NAISE, Prof. Patankar aims to deepen collaborations between Northwestern and Argonne National Laboratory, driving interdisciplinary research in energy storage, quantum computing, climate modelling, and materials science. His leadership will further solidify NAISE’s role as a model for academic-national lab partnerships, fostering technological breakthroughs with real-world impact.

IIT Bombay has long been a launchpad for visionary researchers and leaders, equipping its alumni with the expertise and drive to tackle global challenges. Prof. Patankar’s journey—from IIT Bombay’s rigorous academic environment to spearheading high-impact research at the intersection of engineering and scientific discovery—exemplifies the Institute’s role in shaping the future of innovation.

Read more about his appointment and vision for NAISE here.