Hello.

Please start by introducing your professional journey in academia

Hello. Am I audible?

Just a quick intro — your name and what you've been working on lately.

So I'm Doctor Sudheer Ranjan. I have pursued my pH D from IIT Roorkee. And my pH D work is on fabrication and characterization of in situ developed aluminum based hybrid metal metals composite and right now I'm working. On a project for DRDO in IIT Rootkey. That is forecasting of explosives and melt class melt, melt cast. Anything else?

You mentioned fabrication and characterization work as a research focus. When you're teaching students about those foundational concepts—say, composite materials—what's one basic principle or idea you emphasize early on in your courses?

Like what is composite materials I can easily tell to students like. It is. It is not a homogeneous mixture. It is a heterogeneous mixture of two different. Two different materials. On mixing. Do not give a. Combined it gives a combined properties of both the. Materials. Not a single. Not a single entity. Properties there.

Like what is composite materials I can easily tell to students like. It is. It is not a homogeneous mixture. It is a heterogeneous mixture of two different. Two different materials. On mixing. Do not give a. Combined it gives a combined properties of both the. Materials. Not a single. Not a single entity. Properties there. So it is a heterogeneous mixture of two. Or more. Compounds. Materials.

Okay, so you're making sure students understand that a composite is a heterogeneous blend—you're highlighting that the combined material keeps distinct properties from its components, not just a uniform average. When you introduce this in your lectures, do you use any practical examples or demonstrations to help students grasp that concept?

Right, so you're making sure students understand that a composite is a heterogeneous blend—you're highlighting that the combined material keeps distinct properties from its components, not just a uniform mixture. When you're introducing this idea in a lab setting, how do you help students connect that theory to the hands-on fabrication process?

Composite material we can easily tell to students like they have seen concrete. So concrete is. Not a mechanical compound, but it is used in civil engineering. So it is a. Bound composite material. It is a mixture of. And cement. So it is a. Composite Material. In which cement is there but. The. Concrete is different. Both of the. Materials in it.

Dr Ranjan, I noticed your publication in the Journal of Manufacturing Processes on the thermodynamic stability of phases in Al-based hybrid metal matrix composites. How has your research in this area influenced how you approach teaching complex materials science concepts to undergraduate students?

Like this article is based on the research that if we add something to aluminium. Like if we are making in situ. Composite material or NC 2. In situ particulate in aluminum. How? How? Compounds other than aluminum or the major alloying elements other than aluminum are influencing. Uh, in situ reactions.

Like this article is based on the research that if we add something to aluminium. Like if we are making in situ. Composite material or NC 2. In situ particulate in aluminum. How? How? Compounds other than aluminum or the major alloying elements other than aluminum are influencing. Uh, in situ reactions. Or. The OR you can say the the kinetics in the. Uh, PM home. Is being affected by the. By the in situ reaction and the allowing elements other than enemy. PM We can. Tell them to student that. How the reactions are taking place if only aluminum? And aluminum and its alloys are there.

Alright, you're looking at how elements added to aluminum affect in situ reactions — so when you teach students about alloying and composite fabrication, how do you help them understand the impact of these additional compounds on the material's microstructure and properties?

Alright, you’re helping students see how alloying elements change reaction kinetics in composites. When you’re teaching those in the lab, do you have them run their own experiments to observe the effect, or do you rely more on demonstrations and simulations?

For this research. Actually for this research. Experiment is there, but the main concept is mathematical. So there are mathematical equations like Madama model and Wilson model which can be used. To study the kinetics of different alloying elements and their reactions with the in situ reactions with the composite material that we are. Developing.

For this research. Actually for this research.

For this research. Actually for this research. Experiment is there, but the main concept is mathematical. So there are mathematical equations like Madama model and Wilson model which can be used. To study the kinetics of different alloying elements and their reactions with the in situ reactions with the composite material that we are. Developing. So it is. Mathematical model. Rather than experimental. So we can. We can validate this with experiments, but the main concept is mathematical.

You were about to explain how your research connects with teaching—go on.

Okay, so you use models like Madama and Wilson to help students grasp the mathematical side of reaction kinetics. Have you found any strategies that help undergraduates with weaker math backgrounds engage with this material, or do they tend to struggle?

Okay, so you rely on mathematical models like Madama and Wilson to explain reaction kinetics, but you also validate them with experiments when you can. When you have a student who's struggling to connect the math to the physical process, what's one teaching strategy you use to help them bridge that gap?

To bridge that gap, we can give them. Practical, uh. Problem like we can give them aluminium. And we can give them. Like aluminum with copper. Or something else only two compounds so that. It will. It's easy for the student, he can study the. Binary and ternary.

To bridge that gap, we can give them. Practical, uh. Problem like we can give them aluminium. And we can give them. Like aluminum with copper. Or something else only two compounds so that. It will. It's easy for the student, he can study the. Binary and ternary. Reactions in the aluminium The binary and ternary systems with aluminium and its reactions we can ease. Calculate the. Values of the. Activity coefficients and activity in the melt of. Aluminum. So that he can easily calculate aluminum and. Difference between aluminum and aluminum copper. In the in the insectary actions for making a composite material, fabricating a composite.

Alright, so you simplify the math by having them work with just two or three elements so the equations aren't overwhelming. When you're guiding students through that kind of binary or ternary system, what common misunderstanding or mistake comes up, and how do you usually address it in class?

Alright, so you help students calculate activity coefficients by starting with simple binary or ternary systems. When you're guiding them through fabricating a composite, how do you evaluate whether they've truly understood both the math and the physical process — are there specific assignments or lab reports you look for?

I will give them assignment. I will give them. An assignment for, not for aluminum. Some other material also like. A copper or. Siliguri and. In single. Copper and and copper with alloyed with some other element. And we can give them problem after that for. To calculate activity or activity coefficient in that. So that. To we have learned. It or no?

Dr Ranjan, given your research background in aluminum-based metal matrix composites and forecasting explosives for DRDO, where do you see the most promising, fundable directions in your field over the next three years? What types of grants or external funding would you target to support your work?

So for future directions I'm planning to establish. A layer for like Advanced Casting and Simulation lab or Advanced Casting and Modeling layer. For uh. For uh. To be the. Lab for. Casting of composite materials and custom. Of other alloys that are used in the industry. Or we can solve the industry problems by through simulations plus. Our experimental expert.

So for future directions I'm planning to establish. A layer for like Advanced Casting and Simulation lab or Advanced Casting and Modeling layer. For uh. For uh. To be the. Lab for. Casting of composite materials and custom. Of other alloys that are used in the industry. Or we can solve the industry problems by through simulations plus. Our experimental expert. And for the funding, we can. Approach like. We have to get projects through DST or sub. DRDO and some other. A government agency. Plus industries also.

You’re aiming to set up an Advanced Casting and Simulation lab to tackle industry problems with both modeling and experiments. What’s your strategy for securing funding—are there specific government agencies, industry partners, or grant schemes you’d prioritize to make this lab sustainable over time?

Alright,

Something else?

You’ve worked across both experimental and mathematical modeling approaches in materials science. Suppose you’re teaching a course with 200 students and can’t use slides—how would you design a session that keeps them actively engaged and helps them really grasp concepts like composite fabrication?

So. For composite fabrication, first I'll tell them about. Cast what? What is casting? What are the different type of? What are the different type of? Reinforcement added that are in the casting. So it is basically a theory concept. First of all, I'll. Jury for about casting. About the. Different reinforcement in the casting. How different reinforcement can be made through different? Type of. Some different some different parts, Some different parts like powder, metallurgy or something else. So I will teach them, then I'll. Come down to casting then Haika. Is necessary and how it is? Economical than the other? Fabrication techniques. Then I'll come down to the mathematics of casting. And then? We'll come down to. The mathematics of fabrication of. Composites that how the. Reaction is happening and how we are deciding the. How we are deciding the cooling rate? And how we are deciding the? Amount of salts that we are adding for in the two reactions. So like. We can teach. Theory plus mathematics on board also.

So. For composite fabrication, first I'll tell them about.

Okay, you’d start by introducing composite fabrication, but let’s say you can’t use slides and you’ve got a big group. What’s your trick for keeping students involved—do you use props, group activities, or something else to make sure they’re not just passive?

Okay, so you’d walk students through theory and mathematics on the board, building up from casting to composite fabrication. Say you notice half the class isn’t really responding or seems checked out—what’s your method for pulling them back in and making sure they’re actually engaged with the material?

If they really engaged in my class then I'll try to take some. Examples from industries that how industries are facing. These problems or how to come from air, I will give example from aerospace and automotive industries that attract students that. We are using in cars or aeroplanes like this or they are getting this these problems and how these problems can be. Solved by using composite materials and developing composite materials for them.

Dr Ranjan, accreditation cycles can be pretty demanding. If you joined our department and found that outcome assessment data was inconsistent across courses, how would you approach fixing that?

I'll figure out that what are the. Problems. Why is the assessment data is not coming out proper? Or what are the? Uh, what are the gaps that are coming? And I'll try to fix them.

You’d start by identifying gaps in the outcome assessment process — but what’s your next step once you’ve pinpointed the main issues? Do you have a system or framework you use to standardize assessment data across the department?

Department there are there are many techniques to check the to assess the data for the. Students like. We can we are using the their marks plus we are using. What? Coursework they they have taken and what? They they have learned in the section of the subject or each section of different subjects. And why this we can calculate? And assess their. Assess the data of the. Something else?

Okay, so you’re pulling from coursework and marks, plus what students have actually learned in each subject section to assess outcomes. When you’re reporting this data for accreditation, how do you make sure it’s consistent and auditable across multiple faculty members and courses?

So for accurate. The currency between. Between the whole department and the faculties. Like Co and PO for? That so the course outcome and the program outcomes, we can judge by that. The accreditation data we can provide them that we are fulfilling all the course outcome and the process and the program outcomes. For the students through different subjects in the department. Anything else, Sir?

Imagine a student files a formal complaint alleging your grading is biased, while your department head is pressuring you to improve pass rates. How do you handle that situation, balancing fairness to the student with institutional expectations?

So I will not. Do any biasing in the? Everything of the students, all the students are same for the professor. And as a teacher. All students are same for pressurized. If someone pressurized me for. Higher grain I will teach them. Better. I'll try to teach them better and I'll try to grade them. On the higher, on the higher. Outside not, I will not try to. If the easy the checking it will be linear but. There will be no pricing for any of the student. Anything else that I can help?

Right, so you’d stick to fair grading and focus on better teaching if pressured—no favoritism. But what if the department head actually disagrees and insists you change grades to boost pass rates? How would you respond in that situation?

First of all, I'll try to. Tells her that. I cannot give. Uh, special. Any special? Into any. Some student or like that. If it is for grades then we can. Uh, we can be lenient in. In the check system and we can improve the. Teaching style also. Or are. Courses.

Given your experience with both academic research and industry collaborations, do you have connections or prior partnerships that could help students at VIT access internships or placements in smart manufacturing or semiconductor fields?

In the fields. Manufacturing, yes, I can help the student that I have collaborations with some. Casting Industries.

In the fields. Manufacturing, yes, I can help the student that I have collaborations with some. Casting Industries. And and with the ideal also. So I can. Can help students. To reach these industries and TVR LDR du. For their internship. In manufacturing. On and mainly in manufacturing.

Alright, you mentioned you have collaborations with casting industries that could help students. Can you give me a concrete example—like the name of an industry partner or how you’d actually set up placement or internship opportunities for students at VIT?

You mentioned collaborations with casting industries and DRDO that could help students with internships in manufacturing. Can you give me a concrete example—like the name of an industry partner, or how you’d actually set up placements for students at VIT?

Sorry, but I cannot give you. To the exact industry partner name. But yeah, I will try to. Indulge my students. And I I will make connections. I will try to make the connections of. Students on the placement. Committee of the. Of vit. So they can they can easily. Contact these industries.

Sorry, but I cannot give you. To the exact industry partner name. But yeah, I will try to. Indulge my students. And I I will make connections. I will try to make the connections of. Students on the placement. Committee of the. Of vit. So they can they can easily. Contact these industries. And I'll try my connection with the audio also. So they can. Use the. To get internship in DRDO and. The casting industries.

You’ve guided students on industry projects and internships before. Can you walk me through how you’d supervise a student research project, say in smart manufacturing, to make sure their work is both rigorous and practical?

Alright, you said you'd make connections for students through the placement committee and your collaborations. Switching gears, when you're teaching a lab course—say, on smart vehicle technologies—how do you ensure students not only complete the experiments but actually understand the underlying theory and can apply it later?

A smart vehicle technology we can. We can. We can teach them the. Standard uh. Technologies. Of extended technical. They use in smart vehicles nowadays. That how AI is. Automation Automation in automobile industries and how? Other things how are. Uh, simulation based teaching can be used. To. Uh, used in the automated. Automotive industries, you can teach that to our students. For better understanding of theory. Linked with simulations. And we can do simulations. We can use simulations and numerical modeling. To let them. About the. Automotive or the smart vehicles?

You talked about linking theory to simulations for better understanding in lab courses. When students struggle with the numerical modeling part, what's your approach to breaking it down so even those with weak math backgrounds can follow and apply it?

So for Btech students or bachelor students, I'm not. Teach them the. Hard mathematics behind the. Uh, behind the simulations. But I'll let them, uh. Let some. So then they can eat. Skill software so that. They can learn about the simulator. They can learn the simulation for different automotive field or aerospace. And basic mathematics concepts There is no technical issue.

I'll use uh. I'll design the assignment or the. Exam like that so that. They can apply. Numerical and experimental. The knowledge they have learned. During the class. And. Then that we can easily calculate that the students have learned it or not. It's not. Like for they have, they have to use, they have to learn very. Complex mathematics, but they have to run the basic concepts. That are taught in the For research problems, what I can do I can. I can give them the different industrial problems that are. By the industry nowadays. Yeah, so they can easily. They can easily. Pick a topic. From there that. The industrial problem and we based. There interest. He can pick out one. Topic that what he can do. I'll try to. Teach a student. I'll try to teach a student that you can. You can. Or two or three topics then. Based on. Independent and the complexity of the problem. I'll try to figure out. One interesting topic out of these 32 topics so that he can easily work on that and they can be achievable in like masters inverse for in. For masters 2 years and for. PhD like in 3-4 years. The problem can be achieved. Solution.

You mentioned using skill software and teaching basic math concepts rather than deep mathematics for bachelor students. When you’re evaluating their performance in lab and theory courses, how do you make sure your assessment methods are fair and capture both practical skills and theoretical understanding?

I'll use uh. I'll design the assignment or the. Exam like that so that. They can apply. Numerical and experimental. The knowledge they have learned. During the class. And. Then that we can easily calculate that the students have learned it or not.

Alright, you said you'd design assignments and exams so students have to apply both numerical and experimental knowledge. When you're guiding students on their thesis or research projects, how do you help them stay structured and focused, especially if they're struggling to define their research question?

Okay, so you help students pick industry-relevant topics and narrow them down based on complexity and their interests. When it comes to communicating your expectations and structuring your teaching, what strategies do you use to make sure students clearly understand the course objectives and what’s expected from them?

For better understanding. The course object. I'll try to. Teach them that why we are. Why we are? Key courses or why? They have been taught these courses. What are EU? Courses and industries. What is the? What are the use of? In the real life. So they they will be more interested in knowing that that how these courses are helping. Help us in the future. In our jobs plus in the real life or industries. So we'll try to build up. Interest.

For better understanding. The course object. I'll try to. Teach them that why we are. Why we are? Key courses or why? They have been taught these courses. What are EU? Courses and industries. What is the? What are the use of? In the real life.

For better understanding. The course object. I'll try to. Teach them that why we are. Why we are? Key courses or why? They have been taught these courses. What are EU? Courses and industries. What is the? What are the use of? In the real life. So they they will be more interested in knowing that that how these courses are helping. Help us in the future. In our jobs plus in the real life or industries. So we'll try to build up. Interest. In the students for that subject.

Alright, so you make sure students know why they’re learning certain courses and how those connect to real-world applications. When you've got students working on projects or assignments, how do you track their progress and give feedback, especially for those who might be struggling to organize their work?

Alright, so you build student interest by explaining how courses connect to real-world jobs and industry. When you’re evaluating exam papers or practicals, how do you ensure consistency and fairness—especially if you’re working with other faculty or multiple sections?

Alright, so you focus on showing students the real-world purpose behind courses to build interest. When you’re guiding student projects or research, how do you help them stay organized and communicate their progress clearly—especially if they’re struggling with writing or presentations?

So they are struggling with writing or presentation. Uh, initially. The students are. Struggling with their writing and. Presentations, but as time passes I'll try to guide them for. Different if they are not good at writing, I'll. Try to give them some. Uh, work or? Or some research work or research. So that they can ride by themselves. Then I'll try to correct them so this cycle will go on and they'll. Be better prepared for research work and for presentation also. We can. Use like. Weekly or by weekly or in 15 days they they have to present. Me. What have they have done in the? In their project or in their studies. So if they are not. Preparing presentation properly I. Guide them to make them. Uh, good in their presentation In my own research for the. In a Republic and a reput reputed general. So that. Researched idea. That is given. By me.

In my own research for the. In a Republic and a reput reputed general. So that. Researched idea. That is given. By me. By my supervisor. And the hair I I have also taken help from my senior sullen various things. Then I try to learn it. On my own. And then? I have made that research paper, I have written that, I've done my research and then I have written my research paper and taken help of my supervisor that make it better.

So you led research that's been published in a reputed journal and the idea came from you. Can you tell me what specific impact your publication had—like did it change industry practices, influence other academic work, or lead to new collaborations?

Alright, you worked with your supervisor and seniors to develop your research and get it published. Switching topics, have you ever been involved in industry projects or consultancy work, and if so, how did that experience influence your teaching or research?

I've been indulged in industrial projects and consultancy works so. By consultancy bugs. I got donated how? These consultancies work. Or how the bills are processed? How? I I have also learned the. Research for plus. Paperwork that has. Has to be to be done in the. Consultancy. And the. And the other and the other project. How the we can we can do the paperwork and all with the with the. Industry and our own. Institute.

Okay, so you learned a lot from industry projects and consultancy—especially around paperwork and the practical side of collaborating between the institute and industry. One last thing, Dr.: to teach both theory and lab courses well, what’s your approach for keeping students engaged during a long practical session when their attention starts to drift?

There is a if there is a long practical. Session. So what we can do? We can give indeed. Task two different students. And. And we'll try to indulge them in the in the. They are doing doing in the lab. So if we give them. The individual. Project will play. Tell them to. You can discuss in groups. So while doing their individual experiment, they'll. They'll be busy in their. Experiment. Plus they can also. Take the help of their friends, for one can ask another and another can ask the third person. So like this one they they'll be indulged in that. In that length.

Alright, Dr., we're wrapping up. Is there anything you'd like to ask about the role or the team before we finish?

Yeshal.

Sure, go ahead with your question.

Yeshal. I know I want. With for which? You are taking the interview for Assistant Professor. And I I want to know the areas in the mechanical engineering.

Alright, you want to know which areas in mechanical

And and also my. What the area is casting? Them with. Please you can you can tell the time is going on. Going to end.

Right, so you’re asking about mechanical engineering areas—specifically whether casting is included for the Assistant Professor role. Yes, casting is typically a recognized specialization within mechanical engineering, and it’s often relevant to smart manufacturing and advanced materials research. If you’d like more detail about which areas are prioritized for this position, I can check the official requirements directly. Anything else you’d like to ask about the role or the team before we wrap up?

No, no, I only want to know the. Field. So you can. If you can check.