Prospective Students / Vacancies


If you are fascinated by and want to deeply explore fluid flows, indeed keen on rigorous research in Fluid Mechanics and plan to publish your work in reputed journals and international conferences, then this is the right place for you!

Curious, research-driven, honest, enthusiastic, motivated, dedicated and hardworking people are welcome to join the NatFlows Lab.
We are constantly looking for such people.



Interested PhD/MS/MTech Students

Presuming that you have read through the NatFlows Lab homepage, if you are interested and planning to join our lab, then here is the process.

  • 1. Admissions are based on Competitive GATE score, so have one such.
  • 2. Admissions take place once (or sometime, twice) every year: May (sure) and December (not always!). Apply to Mechanical Engineering Department for the program of your choice (PhD/MS/MTech). Please monitor the Department website for Admission Announcements.
  • 3. Screened applicants (PhD/MS) have to go through written exam (most likely) and an interview.
  • 4. Admitted students have the freedom to choose the Advisor in the first semester.
  • 5. This step is very important. If you are interested to work in NatFlows Lab, then please contact Sachin Y. Shinde (sachin@iitk.ac.in). Early contact is always encouraged to not miss out the lab vacancies. Moreover, early choice of research area helps in choosing the right courses appropriate to your research problem.
  • 6. Dual-Degree BTMT Students: You are welcome to visit the lab and interact with the lab group. You can write to Sachin Y. Shinde (sachin@iitk.ac.in) for appointment, and we can meet to discuss the mutual research interest and prospective research problem. The important requirement is curiosity and problem solving attitude apart from thorough understanding of ME231 course.


Recommended Courses

We work in fluid flow problems using experiments blended with theory and simulation, therefore, crediting some of the following courses, but not limited to, depending upon your research problem would prepare you for the research work.

  • ME631: Viscous Flow Theory
  • ME681: Mathematics for Engineers
  • ME647: Introduction to Turbulent Flows
  • ME674: Fluid Mechanics of Flapping Foils
  • ME666: Inviscid Flows
  • ME630: Computational Fluid Dynamics and Heat Transfer
  • ME634: Advanced Computational Fluid Dynamics
  • ME649: Experimental Methods in Thermal Sciences
  • AE618A: Finite Element Methods for Fluid Dynamics
  • AE696A: Instrumentation, Measurements and Experiments in Fluids

The details of the courses can be found here, and here (AE Courses).



Prospective PhD/MS (Research Students)

If you are doing/have performed well in some of the above courses and you are willing to join our lab, then please email Sachin Y. Shinde (sachin@iitk.ac.in) with following documents:

  • Your resume (CV)
  • Short research proposal (~ one page) stating the research statement and plan (if you have one) which can be discussed when we meet
  • Few lines stating why do you want to work in NatFlow Lab, and your plan after graduation

Prospective Students providing these documents would be considered favourably.



Prospective MTech/BTMT Students

If you are doing/have performed well in some of the above courses and you are willing to join our lab, then please email Sachin Y. Shinde (sachin@iitk.ac.in) with following documents:

  • Your resume (CV)
  • Few lines stating why do you want to work in NatFlows Lab, and your future plan after MTech

Prospective Students providing these documents would be considered favourably.



Prospective SUMMER Intern Students

If you are indeed keen on doing serious research work, then you are most welcome to join the NatFlows Lab.
Please contact Sachin Y. Shinde (sachin@iitk.ac.in) with your CV and short plan of work.

However, if you are aiming only to get a recommendation and PVF at the end of internship, you will be disappointed!
Such students should refrain from applying!