Parth Kelkar
Mr. Parth Kelkar
Ph.D. Program
School of Materials Engineering
Purdue University
B.S. Mechanical Engineering, University of Pune (India), 2021
Project: Rheo-physical behavior of concentrated surfactant solutions
Bio: Parth grew up in Pune, India and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Pune in June 2021. As an undergraduate, he worked with auxetic materials. During his junior year, Parth spent a summer at the Korea Institute of Science & Technology, Seoul and worked with Dr. Hyun-Cheol Song on incorporating auxetic geometries in the development of two-dimensional strain sensors. In his senior year, he worked with the sports engineering group based at Manchester Metropolitan University, UK and was advised by Drs. Olly Duncan & Tom Allen. Funded by the International Sports Engineering Association’s ‘Student Engagement Award’ Parth worked on developing novel analytical models to describe the behavior of closed-cell auxetic foams under high strain. He also has an active collaboration with Dr. Pierre-Sandre Farrugia of the auxetics group at the University of Malta to study three-dimensional auxetic and zero Poisson’s ratio structures. Outside of materials, Parth is engrossed in watching soccer and cheering for Manchester United, reading, cooking Indian cuisine & hiking!