New Faculty@IITD

Deepak Kumar

Department of Physics

Deepak Kumar, who works in the area of experimental soft matter physics finds inspiration for his research in some routine happenings like crumpling of a piece of paper, a drop of rain hitting the surface of a lake to produce a splash, sugar grains flowing out of a tilted container and many more. “It is fascinating to realize how underlying these ordinary looking phenomena there can be some really rich physics,” he says.

He was born in Darbhanga in Bihar, where his father worked as a professor of physics. Talking about his early childhood memory he says “My father ran a lab where they designed and tested solar concentrators. I remember spending time there watching them build these devices from scratch. This amazed me.” He went on to do a BSc (Honours) in Physics from Science college Patna, where he decided to pursue a career in research.

This was followed by a Masters and PhD from the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research Mumbai on friction induced organization with Prof. Shankar Ghosh. Subsequently, he joined as a postdoctoral research associate at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, US in the groups of Prof. Narayanan Menon and Prof. Thomas Russell, where he worked towards developing a new technique to encapsulate liquid drops with thin polymer films.

His current research interest includes elastocapillary phenomena, dynamics of liquid drop impact and driven granular materials. “I am excited to be a part of IIT Delhi and am looking forward to getting involved in exciting research and educational endeavors,” he maintains