KIDAMBI RESEARCH GROUP
Assistant Professor, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Vanderbilt University
Assistant Professor, Mechanical Engineering, Vanderbilt University
Post-doctoral research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, U.S.A.
Ph.D., University of Cambridge, U.K.
M.S., Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich, Switzerland
B.Tech., National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli, India
​
Awards and honors:
2024 - 2025 Harrington Faculty Fellowship, University of Texas at Austin
2024 Rising Star of Mechanical Engineering, American Society of Mechanical
Engineers (ASME)
2024 Invited attendee, 2024 China-America Frontiers of Engineering
Symposium, National Academy of Engineering (NAE)
2024 Elected as Chair of the User Executive Committee, Center for Nanophase
Materials Sciences at Oak Ridge National Laboratory
​
2023 AIChE, Nanoscale Science and Engineering (NSEF) Young Investigator Award
2023 Winner - Institute of Physics, Materials Research Express, Emerging
Investigators in Materials Science 2021-2022
2023 Royal Society of Chemistry Materials Advances - Early Stage Investigator
Honorees of the ACS Polymeric Materials: Science & Engineering Division
2023 Elected as Vice Chair of the User Executive Committee, Center for Nanophase
Materials Sciences at Oak Ridge National Laboratory
​
2022 DOE Early Career Award
2022 Emerging Investigators - Journal of Materials Chemistry A
2022 ACS PMSE Young Investigator Awardee
2022 Chair-elect Nashville section of ACS
​
2021-2022 Junior Faculty Teaching Fellowship, Vanderbilt University
2021 ChBE Award for Excellence in Teaching, Vanderbilt University
2021 Member Early Career Editorial Board, Chemical Engineering Journal Advances
2020 Elected to The User Executive Committee, Center for Nanophase Materials
Sciences at Oak Ridge National Laboratory
2020 Future Application Award, NanoScientific Symposium
2020 ECS Toyota Young Investigator Fellowship
2020 NSF CAREER Award
​
2019 Member, Graphene Academic Council, National Graphene Association, USA
2019 Hamilton Company Syringe Grant Program Award
​
2018 ACS PRF Doctoral New Investigator Award
2018 ORAU Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Enhancement Award
2014 - 2015 Lindemann Trust Fellowship, UK
2014 Elizabeth Mabel Burnett prize, Hughes Hall College, University of Cambridge
2014 1st prize in ABTA 2014 Doctoral Research Award, Engineering Sciences
2010 - 2014 Cambridge Commonwealth Trust Award
2008 - 2009 Willi Studer prize, MAVT, ETH Zurich
2005 1st prize Poster presentation, Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur
Post-doctoral associates and Research Assistant Professors
​
Dr. Peifu Cheng
Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Department, Vanderbilt University​
​
Awards and Honors
Outstanding Performance by a Post-Doctoral Scholar Award, ChBE, VU ​2021.
​
​
​
​
​
Dr. Pavan Chaturvedi
Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Department, Vanderbilt University​
​
Awards and Honors
Outstanding Performance by a Post-Doctoral Scholar Award, ChBE, VU ​2022.
​
​
​
​
Dr. Jumi Deka
Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Department, Vanderbilt University
​
​
​
​
​
​
Dr. Kundan Saha
Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Department, Vanderbilt University
​
​
​
​
Graduate Students
​
Andrew Naclerio
Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Program, Vanderbilt University
​
2020, Best Research paper in ChBE by a 2nd year graduate student
Aman Tamboli
Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Program, Vanderbilt University
Joshua Dexter
Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Program, Vanderbilt University
VTS position
​
Rafiq Ahmed
Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Program, Vanderbilt University
​
​
​
​
Undergraduate Students
​
Nika Vardoshvili, Fall 2024, ChBE
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
Samara Rashid, Fall 2024, ChBE
​
​
​
​
​
​
Alumni
Ph.D.​
1. Andrew E. Naclerio, Ph.D. 2025 - Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
2020 Best Research paper in ChBE by a 2nd year graduate student
​
​2. Nicole K. Moehring, Ph.D. 2024 - Interdisciplinary Material Science Program, moved to Bosch
2023 Prof. Dibakar Bhattacharyya Graduate Student Research Award, AIChE Separations Division
2023 Graduate Student Award in the Inorganic Materials Area of AIChE
2023 Best Graduate Student Publication in VINSE, NanoDay
2023 DOE SCGSR fellowship
2023 NAMS Student Fellowship
2022 NAMS Student Fellowship honorable mention
2021 Best Student presentation at the CNMS User meeting/conference
Vanderbilt University Graduate fellowship
NSF GRFP honorable mention
​
Masters students
Tristan Gilbert, 2020, moved to U.C. Berkeley as a graduate student
Shaswat Rajput, 2021, Data Science Institute Masters program, Capstone research project
​​​​
Undergraduate students
Samara Rashid, Fall 2024, ChBE
Nika Vardoshvili, Fall 2024, ChBE
Michael P Ackon, Fall 2023, Spring 2024 Freshman Undergraduate
Yahir Espinoza-Adame, Fall 2023, ChBE
Sarah Driscoll, Fall 2022, Spring 2023, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Thomas Knight Fall 2021, Spring 2022, Fall 2022, Spring 2023, Chemistry
Yan Xu, Spring 2021, Computer Science and Engineering
Ali Kilic, Fall 2020, Mechanical Engineering
Annabelle Li, Fall 2019, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Nafis Ahmed, Fall 2019, Computer Science and Engineering
Dahsong Lee, Fall 2019, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Melanie Marszal, Fall 2019 - , Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Sophia Pannullo, Spring 2019, Biomedical Engineering
James Rogers, Fall 2019-, Computer Science and Engineering
Mattigan Kelly, Summer 2019, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Andrew Harkaway , Summer 2019, Mechanical Engineering, moved to Iowa State as a graduate student.
Masahiro Kato, Fall 2018 and Spring 2019, Mechanical Engineering
Michael Barkan, Fall 2018, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Masturina Sukri, Spring and Fall 2018, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Andrew Naclerio, Spring 2018, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Summer research students
Nika Vardoshvili, Vanderbilt ChBE rising sophomore, SyBBURE program, Summer 2024
Brennan Fingler, Rochester Institute of Technology ChBE rising senior, Summer 2024
Lillie Cate Allen, Summer 2024, REHSS program
Chelsea Clark, Summer 2023, REHSS program - Best poster award
Mohamed Sankari, Summer 2022, REHSS program - Best poster award
Christina Trexler, Summer 2019, VINSE-NSF REU program, University of Arkansas - Best poster award
Emma Fuller, Summer 2019, REHSS program
Christine Phanbandith, Summer 2019, Aspirnaut program, Tennessee Technological University
Madanna Vue, Summer 2019, Aspirnaut program
​
Visiting Researchers
Grzegorz Romaniak, Lodz University of Technology, Poland – January – February 2023.
​
Others
Dakota Braaten, IMS, Fall 2024
Muhammad Abdus Salam, MechE, Fall 2024
Jamie Hemstock, ChBE, Spring 2023 - Fall 2024
Bharat Bharat, ChBE, Spring 2024
Courtney Ragle, IMS, Spring 2023
Rahul Shah, IMS, Fall 2022, Best poster (1st place) award for 1st year IMS student at VINSE NanoDay 2022.
Jeremy Espano, IMS, Fall 2019-Spring 2020
Nicole Moehring, IMS, Fall 2018-Fall 2019
Nimrod Korda, ChBE, Fall 2019 - Spring 2022
Rabeb Layouni, ChBE, Spring 2017
Liudmyla Prozorovska, IMS, Fall 2017
​​