Kaushik Bhattacharya
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Kaushik Bhattacharya
Kaushik Bhattacharya
Howell N. Tyson, Sr., Professor of Mechanics and Materials Science
B.Tech., Indian Institute of Technology, 1986; Ph.D., University of Minnesota, 1991. Assistant Professor, Caltech, 1993-99; Associate Professor, 1999-2000; Professor, 2000-10; Tyson, Sr., Professor, 2010-; Executive Officer, 2007-16; Vice Provost, 2016-25.
Research Overview
Professor Bhattacharya studies the mechanical behavior of solids, and specifically uses theory to guide the development of new materials. Current research concerns three broad areas: (i) Active materials such as shape-memory alloys, ferroelectrics and liquid crystal elastomers, (ii) Heterogeneous materials and designing unprecedented properties by exploiting heterogeneities, (iii) Coarse-grained density functional theory to understand defects in solids.
Courses
2026-27
ME/MS/AM 221 – Effective properties of heterogenous and meta-materials
ME/CE/AM 296 – Artificial Intelligence in Mechanics
2025-26
AM/ACM 127 – Calculus of Variations
Ae/Ge/ME 160 ab – Continuum Mechanics of Fluids and Solids