Department has a strong pool of highly qualified faculty doing cutting edge research in their areas of specialisation. The major focus areas of research are:

(i) Automotive Systems and Design:

Since Chennai is an automotive hub, it was but natural for our department to establish a strong presence in Automotive Engineering. Our faculty teach and perform research in several areas of automotive design. The key focus areas in automotive engineering are vehicle dynamics, tyre design, modeling of dynamical systems, automotive control, fault diagnosis, automotive systems, ergonomics, and intelligent transportation systems.

Faculty: Prof. R Krishnakumar, Prof. C S Shankar Ram, Prof. Venkatesh Balasubramanian

(ii) Materials, Design and Manufacturing:

Materials, design and manufacturing are the tripod on which all successful products stand. Our department has a strong focus on all these areas with an emphasis on the applications. In particular, our faculty perform research in the areas of geometric and solid modeling, computational geometry, shape search and optimization, image based reconstruction, solid free form fabrication, design theory, reliability, fatigue and fracture, finite element analysis, material development and characterization, structural health monitoring, design with smart materials, sustainable manufacturing.

Faculty: Prof. Balakrishna C Rao, Prof. Jayaganthan R, Prof. Kavitha Arunachalam, Prof. Palaniappan Ramu, Prof. Ramanathan M, Prof. Saravana kumar, Prof. Srikanth Vedantam, Prof. Venkatesh Balasubramanian

(iii) Robotics and Mechatronics:

Robotics is an important area which incorporates the priniciples of mechanical and electrical sciences in order to develop next generation products. Our department has a strong program based on our interdisciplinary faculty in the designing and developing robots for a wide range of applications. The key focus areas of our Robotics faculty lie in design and analysis of parallel manipulators, underwater robots, path plannning, system dynamics and control, optomechatronics, sensing.

Faculty: Prof. Asokan T, Prof. Nilesh Vasa, Prof. Sandipan Bandyopadhyay

(iv) Biomedical Design:

Biomedical design is an important growing area in the Indian context. It is essential to develop and train engineers who are able to apply fundamental principles of mechanical and electrical disciplines to develop essential devices for India and the world. Our department is uniquely situated in this context and our strength and focus is on developing devices to serve these needs. The key focus areas in Biomedical Design are medical imaging, biomechanical modeling, soft tissue mechanics, biofluid mechanics, prosthetic and scaffold design, biomedical devices and control, microwave applications such as hyperthermia physics and microwave radiometry, ergonomics and rehabilitation engineering.

Faculty: Prof. Asokan T, Prof. Ganapathy Krishnamurthy, Prof. Kavitha Arunachalam, Prof. Krishna kumar R, Prof. Saravana kumar G, Prof. Tuhin Subhra Santra, Prof. Venkatesh Balasubramanian