Dr. Rajat Mittal

Biography

Rajat Mittal is a professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Johns Hopkins University. His research focuses on computational fluid dynamics, particularly in areas such as low Reynolds number aerodynamics, biomedical flows, and active flow control. Mittal's research group, the Flow Physics Computation Lab, employs computational methods to model a variety of flows with a special emphasis on immersed boundary methods and vortex-dominated flows. He explores biological and bioinspired locomotion, including swimming and flying, and has made significant contributions to the fields of computational fluid mechanics and biomechanics. His work has been influential, collaborating with researchers across zoology, cardiology, robotics, and biomechanics. Throughout his career, Mittal has received funding from various prestigious organizations, including the National Institutes of Health and NASA, and he has served as an associate editor for several peer-reviewed journals. His academic accomplishments include fellowships from the American Physical Society and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and he is recognized as a fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering for 2025. Mittal holds a bachelor's degree in Aeronautical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, a master's degree in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Florida, and a doctorate in Applied Mechanics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, followed by postdoctoral research at Stanford University.

Research Interests