Meet Our Team

Umesh Madanan is an Assistant Professor and P. K. Kelkar Fellow in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur. His research interests lie in the field of experimental/analytical fluid mechanics and heat transfer, wherein he has authored/co-authored more than 20 journal articles and several conference presentations/publications. He is currently mentoring 3 Ph.D. students, and 4 M.Tech. students. Prior to joining IIT Kanpur as a faculty member, he received his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from University of Minnesota Twin Cities (2019) for his dissertation on experimental study of high-Rayleigh-number thermal convection in enclosures under the guidance of Dr. Richard J. Goldstein. He obtained his Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology Madras (2012) and Bachelor’s in Mechanical Engineering with honors from University of Calicut (2007). During the intermediate years between his academic pursuits, he gained industrial experience working at General Electric Power and Water (2012-2014) as an Edison Engineer and as an Assistant Manager in the Product Development division at Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. (2007-2009). He was a recipient of the Scientific High Level Visiting Fellowship by Institut français India - Embassy of France (2022) and the Max Planck-India Mobility Grant by Max Planck Gesellschaft (MPG), Germany (2024-2026). He is an elected member of the Scientific Council for International Centre for Heat and Mass Transfer, an Early Career Editorial Board member for Applied Thermal Engineering (Elsevier), an Associate Editor for the Journal of the Brazilian Society of Mechanical Sciences and Engineering (Springer Nature), and has also served as a guest editor for ASME Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer. He holds memberships in professional societies such as The Institution of Engineers (India), The American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Indian Society for Heat and Mass Transfer, and National Society for Fluid Mechanics and Fluid Power.