Professor Dr. Kaushik Bhattacharya

Biography

Professor Kaushik Bhattacharya studies the mechanical behavior of solids, specifically using theoretical approaches to guide the development of new materials. His current research focuses on three broad areas: (i) Active materials, such as shape-memory alloys and ferroelectrics, and applications in liquid crystal elastomers; (ii) Heterogeneous materials, designing materials with unprecedented properties by exploiting material heterogeneities; (iii) Coarse-grained density functional theory to understand defects in solids. He holds a B.Tech. from the Indian Institute of Technology (1986) and a Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota (1991). After serving as an Assistant Professor at Caltech from 1993 to 1999, he became an Associate Professor in 1999, and subsequently a Professor in 2000. He has also served as the Executive Officer from 2007 to 2016 and became the Vice Provost in 2016, a role he continues to hold.

Research Interests

Courses