Members

Mahesh grew up in India and received his Bachelors' in Computer Science & Engineering from the University of Madras (1998). Following a two year stint in the Indian software industry, he returned to academia and earned his MS Electrical Engineering (2002), MS Physics (2004) and PhD Physics (2006), all from the University of Pittsburgh. He then undertook postdoctoral terms at the Center for Nonlinear Studies and the Materials Physics Applications Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory (2006 - 2009) and the Applied Math. Lab, Harvard University (2009 - 2011).

He was appointed Assistant Professor at the OIST Graduate University, Japan in 2012 and was promoted to Associate Professor in summer 2018. He holds visiting appointments as Research Staff Associate with the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics in Trieste, Italy (since 2018) and as a Faculty Associate with the International Centre for Theoretical Sciences, Tata Institute for Fundamental Research, Bangalore, India (since 2022).

I am currently a postdoctoral researcher, and my research interests are in the fluid dynamics of pattern formation, multiphase flows and interfacial dynamics. I specialise in mathematical modelling and computational techniques, particularly the finite-element method. My current research at OIST focuses on the transport and stability of surfactants across a liquid interface via Marangoni stresses.

I completed my MSci in Natural Science at the University of Cambridge, UK in 2013, before embarking on a four-year stint in industry, working as a software developer and systems engineer for BAE Systems. I returned to academia in 2017, completing an MSc by Research in the Physics of Fluids and Soft Matter group at the University of Manchester, UK, during which I investigated a control mechanism for the famous pattern-forming Saffman-Taylor instability in a Hele-Shaw cell. I then completed my PhD in 2022 in the same group, investigating the sedimentation dynamics of thin, deformed disks in the limit of zero Reynolds number. Following this I took up a postdoctoral research position at the University of Warwick, UK, where I studied the instability of dynamically-dewetting contact lines.

When I'm not at my desk you'll find me in the dojo, as an avid practitioner of Brazilian jiu-jitsu for the past 10 years, somewhere wild with a tent in my backpack, or either side of the decks at a techno party.

I am a theoretical physicist with interests in fluid dynamics, ordered systems, soft condensed matter and non-equilibrium statistical mechanics. My current research project is on a fluid mechanic analogue to the Aharonov-Bohm (AB) effect. The AB effect is a quantum phenomenon where an electrically charged particle is affected by the magnetic vector potential even when the magnetic field in the permitted region is zero. In classical electrodynamics the magnetic vector potential is a mathematical tool and it is only the magnetic field that can have observable consequences, but in quantum mechanics the AB effect makes it possible to observe an interaction between a particle and the vector potential when the field is absent. The fluid analogue to the electrically charged particle is surface waves, while the vector potential (in the absence of a magnetic field) takes the form of an irrotational vortex.

Howdy! I'm a PhD student studying the structure of spiderwebs and the interactions between spiders and their prey using the toolkit of statistical physics and network analysis. In particular, I am interested in the style of web woven by members of the Latrodectus genus, including Australian red backs and American black widows. These eight-legged friends weave webs which are composed of many vertical gumfooted threads, making them capable of ensnaring land-based prey, instead of the usual menagerie of airborne creatures.

Before coming to OIST, I studied the stability of perturbed granular materials in microgravity, and frictional contact dynamics in laboratory-scale granular systems at North Carolina State University.

I am a PhD student studying the interactions between water-waves and vortices. Currently I am working on creating an experimental set up that allows us to look at the hydrodynamical analogue of the Aharonov-Bohm effect.  The Aharonov-Bohm effect originally came from Quantum Mechanics. It is known that whenever a charged particle moves through a region where a magnetic field is present it aquires a phase. What the Aharonov-Bohm effect showcased was, that a charged particle can acquire a phase shift even when it passes through a region where a field is not present and it thereby showcased the importance of the potentials. 
We can recreate this effect by using water waves generated on the surface of water that approach a vortex, and acquire a similar phase shift.
 

Previously at Ashoka University I have worked on, how does surface tension affect the vector potential of water waves when we are in the intermediate regime of gravity-capillary waves.

Although I come from a background in biology, I’m deeply interested in applying analytical methods from physics to better understand biological systems. I’m currently a PhD student studying the attachment discs produced by spiders — specifically the Brown widow (Latrodectus geometricus) — with the aim of quantitatively analyzing their adhesive properties. My research integrates mechanics and both classical and statistical physics to explore how these physical principles manifest in biological phenomena.

Before joining OIST, I completed my undergraduate and Master’s (MSc) degrees in Biology at the American University of Beirut (AUB) in Lebanon. My Master’s thesis focused on the molecular phylogenetics of invasive and cryptic fish species in the Mediterranean Sea… pretty different, right?