Prof Kumar Shanmugam
Professor of Composite Materials and Advanced Manufacturing

Kumar’s research interests revolve around materials design & innovation and advanced (additive, digital and sustainable) manufacturing with a focus on multiscale and multifunctional attributes, towards energy-efficient and sustainable applications. His current research efforts focus on biologically inspired and machine learning approaches for the design of additive manufacturing-enabled multifunctional materials and composites for orthopedics, aerospace, automotive, defense and energy applications. His group’s strength in combining theory, simulations and experiments has led to several novel contributions, for e.g., 3D Printed self-sensing materials; Smart 3D printed scoliosis brace; Nanoengineered 3D printed plate-lattices; 3D printed compliance-tailored multilayers; 3D printed Li-ion batteries; 3D printed architected cellular materials; 3D printed electrically conductive composites; AM-enabled tailored nacreous composites. With a vision towards data-driven materials innovation and manufacturing, his overarching research objective is to continue to lead the development and application of next-generation multifunctional additive manufacturing technologies to address opportunities and challenges posed by both academia and industry.