Milana Mavinkurve

Milana is a graduate from Dayananda Sagar College of Engineering in the field of Biotechnology and is currently pursuing a PhD at the Center for Sustainable Technologies, IISc. She has a passion for dance and is a student of Bharatanatyam. She served as a volunteer in an NGO, tutoring lower grade students. She is an awardee of Rajya Puraskar from the Bharat Scouts and Guides. She enjoys sketching, reading novels and cooking. Her undergraduate project was funded by the Karnataka State Council for Science and Technology (KSCST), IISc.

Aparna Anilkumar

Aparna is a PhD student at the Centre for Sustainable Technologies, IISc Bengaluru. Prior to this, she has worked as Project associate at the same department, as well as consultant/engineer at multiple engineering consultancies within the energy industry. Her qualifying degree is an Integrated Masters in Chemical Engineering from the University of Aberdeen, Scotland. During her time at UoA, she was awarded the Norman Levy Memorial Prize and the Atkins Engineering scholarship. Her thesis project was conducted at Chalmers University (Sweden) under their Carbon Capture Research Unit. Her current research is focused on the field of pervaporation. 

Rasmi Mohan T.

Rasmi is currently pursuing her Ph.D. at the Centre for Sustainable Technologies, IISc Bangalore. She completed her undergraduate degree in Civil Engineering from Vidya Academy of Science and Technology, Kerala, and earned her master’s in Environmental Engineering from Government Engineering College, Thrissur, Kerala. She was an active NSS volunteer in B.Tech. and won the Directorate level NSS Technical Cell top scorer award 2016-18. She has a passion for dancing and was an active participant in arts at school and college levels. At S3 lab, she is working on zero-waste discharge (ZWD) scheme for water remediation. 

Akash Lima is from Rayagada, Odisha. He has graduated in Agricultural Engineering from Sam Higginbottom University of Agriculture, Technology and Sciences, Prayagraj. He earned his master’s degree in Farm Machinery and Power Engineering at Indira Gandhi Krishi Vishwavidyalaya, Raipur. He gained interest in separation technology from his master’s research where he segregated and collected cattle dung from difficult terrains. His current area of research focuses on the separation of polar aprotic solvents using pervaporation. He was awarded the National Talent Scholarship award by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, New Delhi during his master’s. He was also awarded the high school scholarship for academic excellence (ATOM-50 fellowship) by Adyant Educational & Charitable Trust, Bhubaneswar. Basketball, chess and weight training are his hobbies. 

Subhash Kumar

Subhash is an M.Tech student at the Centre for Sustainable Technologies in IISc Bangalore. He graduated from the Civil Engineering department at Nirma University, Ahmedabad. He also has experience in construction work, mainly in road and bridge construction. Currently, he is working on  zero-waste discharge (ZWD) scheme for water remediation. Reading novels, playing volleyball, and cricket are some of his interests. 

Dr. Gopika S. Kumar 

Gopika is an IoE-IISc Postdoctoral Research Fellow working with the Sustainable Separation Solutions (S3) Lab at the Centre for Sustainable Technologies (CST), IISc.  Her research interest is in membrane technology and sustainable process solutions.  She began researching membrane technology involving non-aqueous applications while working as a research assistant at CSIR-Central Food Technological Research Institute, Mysuru, soon after graduation.  Later, she pursued PhD (Direct) with the CSIR-GATE fellowship, wherein she applied organic solvent nanofiltration to valorise the by-product of curcumin manufacture.  Following her PhD completion in 2023, she was briefly engaged as an Engineer/ Scientist (Level-C) with a work focus on Microdialysis at SCTIMST, Trivandrum.  She has contributed to the field by publishing three high-impact journal articles, one book chapter and one patent (filed).  Her current training at the S3 lab focuses on fouling modelling during organic solvent nanofiltration.  

Nikhil Das 

Nikhil is a mechanical engineer and designer by training. He has developed solutions for improving the efficiency of hemodialysis and RO water purification. He holds three granted patents and has a publication to his name. His entrepreneurial journey has been funded by central and state government agencies, including the Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC). At S3 lab, he is working as a Senior Project Associate, focused on optimizing the extraction of phytochemicals from turmeric. Outside the lab, he enjoys wondering about the intersections between science, business, philosophy, yoga, and spirituality.  

Dr. Manamohan Tripathy 

Manamohan was engaged as an IoE Postdoctoral Fellow in the Centre for Sustainable Technologies (CST), IISc Bangalore. He completed his PhD from the Department of Chemistry, NIT Rourkela in 2022. His area of expertise is the development of various functional nanohybrids and electrospun nanofibers for the removal of aquatic pollutants. Till now, he has contributed 9 research publications and 6 book chapters. His work at IISc was based on developing an environmentally benign biopolymer-based adsorbent for the remediation of aquatic arsenic.