Good day, Dr. Selvaraj Rajesh Kumar. I'm Arjun. I've had a look through your background and your professional record. I'm interested in hearing more about your work and how you see yourself fitting in here with our faculty. Ready to start?

Please start by introducing your professional journey in academia.

Hello.

Hello, Professor. Could you please start by sharing your professional journey in academia?

Good morning and thank you for this opportunity. I am Dr. S Rajesh Kumar.

Originated from small village called Vallakulathu Nelu in Hariyuru district, Tamil Nadu.

Frankly, I am living in Taiwan for past 11 years due to my professional journey.

Now I'm going to explain my academic and research experience, followed by the industrial experience.

I start my academia in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu where I completed my PhD in Nanoscience and Technology.

Symbardia University, Coimbatore.

Followed my doctoral studies.

I spent over 8 years in Taiwan as a post doctoral researcher in Department of Chemical and Material Science, Changkang University, Taiwan.

During my postdoctoral studies, I gained hands on experience from multidisciplinary application research such as alkaline alcohol fuel cells, lithium-yar battery, sodium ion battery.

And some biomedical applications such as antibacterial studies, estroblast compatibility for orthopedic applications and photon radiations with collaboration with the hospital to study the anti cancer activities of the cells.

Electro catalyst. Uh, Electro catalytic applications.

So that's what in the academic experience I gained 43 papers, international peer review papers for industrial point of view. Currently I'm working in the industry. My company name is a full chain electronics materials and currently I'm working as a principal R&D engineer. I'm handling A-Team which contains 5 members in my industry. I focusing on the research particularly for the semiconduct.

Which focus on the very high purity materials because that is important for the semiconductor.

The raw material preparation.

And also focusing on the sustainable energy resources.

My company is not only located in Taiwan. My company also have their subsidiaries from different countries including Singapore, China and recently we started in India. Also for India, we have the location in Pricharapalli.

And intrinsically I'm in charge person and act as a general manager to develop the business and R&D in India subsidiary office.

So overall, I have the eight years of the R&D experience.

To get the 42 international peer review papers and two years of the industrial experience, which helps me to grant that 44 Taiwan patents.

My journey relates not only for the academic research but also focusing on these strong industrial publications and expecting in future to have the global leadership to develop the semiconductor industry and to satisfy the India semiconductor mission.

So that's a short overview about my journey and I'm happy to explain more detail if you need. Thank you.

Dr. Selvaraj Rajesh Kumar, let us explore your technical skills first. Can you explain your expertise in chemical engineering, materials science, or electrochemistry? Specifically, how do these areas interplay within your research projects?

OK, so during my PhD research, I not I'm I'm not only focusing on the particular topics, I mostly do the research for the diverse point of view. So in my PhD I my main material is magnetic nanoparticles that is FE3O4 not FE3O4 nanoparticles. So my target is to prepare the Super paramagnetic nanoparticles. That nanoparticle is not applicable to only one applications.

That will be used for the different applications. So during my PhD, I used this nano materials to control the shape and the size and apply to the various applications including lithium-ion battery as a cathode material. And for biomedical applications, we can use some anti-cancer drug coated on the surface or loading into the iron oxide nanoparticles. Then using the magnetic field we can target it to the particular.

Right. To control, uh, to do the controlled drug release behavior. So from PhD onwards, I'm not only focusing on the particular field. So using single material, how that will be applicable to the diverse applications.

So that work not only limit to the PhD, that will also move to my post doctoral studies in chemical engineering field also. So during my post-doctoral what I did means.

We have the lot of experience to prepare the different types of nano materials to control the shape and size. So that will helps me to improve the applications of different fields. For example in postdoctoral mostly I focusing on the alkaline alcohol fuel cell.

So before entering to my lab, that means my previous lab in my postdoctoral studies, they used like only polymer material to do the research of.

But the performance of the power density or cell voltage is not improved because as compared to the hydrogen fuel cell.

Fuel cells.

Alcohol fuel cell, the performance is not high enough, and it's difficult to make the commercializations.

Once I enter into my previous lab, I just give more input how the nanoparticles will come by with these polymeric material to make the compost sites and to increase the performance of the fuel cells. So therefore.

When I go to join the uh, joined as a post doc in my umm, in my lab in Taiwan.

Per meter square.

So that value is really higher, which means around like a 60% higher than previously what reported in my previous lab.

So that type of materials not only limit to the fuel cell, because for fuel cell, I'm preparing the electrolyte. This same electrolyte not only used for the fuel cell, this electrolyte is also applicable for the lithium air battery or maybe the sodium ion battery. Or you can also use this as a separatable membrane for the water purifications or distillation applications. So which means if I take some topics and if I do some research, I'm not limited to the particular applications I'm.

Also thinking about the broad, how it will be applied to the various fields.

So that will help to success the R&D research and have a key point to make the industrial scale.

Your approach demonstrates versatility and innovation in leveraging nanomaterials across multiple applications, showcasing a broad impact in chemical engineering and materials science. Let us transition to examining your teaching abilities. How would you approach teaching both theory and laboratory courses in these fields, ensuring comprehensive student engagement and understanding?

Yes. So for the teaching, I just started my teaching career from my PhD onwards because during my PhD I have I, I have the opportunity to guide the students like for master students, MPhil students and for the PhD students. So during my PhD, I take the courses like for these material science and for the characterization techniques, thermodynamics, chemical engineering, nano biotechnology, synthesis of Nan.

Materials these courses are I already took during my PhD and those candidates overall there will be a 30 members. Among the 30 members, all members obtained able 70 percentage of mock as a minimum and a maximum they got 98 percentage.

So afterwards later I just moved to the abroad in Taiwan as a post doctoral research. There I have the opportunity to teach the chemical engineering and material science syllabus particularly for the foreign students because I worked in Taiwan and mostly their teaching will be happen in Chinese language only. But luckily we also have the international students. So they will have a few syllabus which can able to teach in English. So I have the opportunity to teach for the chemical engineering.

Lines and the material characterizations. And the interesting thing is, from PhD onwards, I get a lot of students from undergraduation, masters and PhD students regarding how to design the materials, how to collect the literatures, how to analyze the data, how to organize the data, how to conclude the data to move forward to the next step. So it's not only limited to the theory.

So for my, for my understandings, uh, my teaching ability of the theory is uh, 40%. And for the real practical experiments, we, uh, going for the 60% to the students.

So they are, uh, they are easy and friendly approach to me to learn, uh, everyday task and uh, to complete the experiment on time.

Your approach to teaching, emphasizing practical experimentation over theory, combined with direct guidance on research methodologies, appears effective for fostering student understanding and success. Can you elaborate on your strategies for student evaluations and overseeing exam duties? Specifically, how do you ensure fairness and consistency in grading?

Right for the student, uh, first I will talk about the theory.

1st we need to track the students, how we are teaching.

Many students mindset is not in the classrooms because mind is not in stables, it will always deviated. So we need to control the mindset first. So for that case instead of continuously teaching the theory, we need to teach 5 minutes of the theory and just use one minute have the interaction. So that interaction will help the student active and the student will also think definitely. We need to clearly understand the classes and have the interaction and that interaction.

Because.

Will helps to get that knowledge hold throughout their memory. It won't loss. That's the theoretical point of view. For the experimental point of view, we need to have a clear plan before doing any experiment. Either it will be the lab experiment or maybe the PhD research or MPhil research. So what we need to do means first we first I will give the some few topics, maybe like a three or four topics and I will I will ask the students to collect the information by.

Themselves because if I say the exact topic, the student will think only in that point of view. Their mindset cannot go broad. Their mindset will limit to only One Direction. So I will give the opportunity to the student to elaborate broadly with the different topics. Then I will ask them to collect the literature, to consolidate the data, to write a small proposal. Then we will have the detailed discussions or like a small interview or small meeting or have a.

Retail group discussions.

I will assign a single topic to them. Once I assign the topic to the students, I also fix the timeline because timeline is very important for the academic and also for the industrial point of view.

OK. Based on that.

So based on the timeline they will start working.

But to work hard is also not good to get the success of the R&D. For the R&D success, we also need to have the smart thinking.

So how we can engage that smart thinking to the student?

We have the continuous friendly discussion with the students whenever we have the time or whenever the student interested want to discuss. So in that point the student is also put their interest.

Easy to do the experiment and we also guiding throughout their journey to help successful final output or maybe the report that helps their thec success.

And.

Your structured evaluation methodology, blending periodic objectives with interactive discussions, ensures fairness and promotes holistic development among students. Now, to delve deeper into student research guidance, could you describe your approach in supervising student projects or research? How do you strike a balance between offering guidance and empowering independent work?

OK, first I approach the students to go for the independent work because independent work is a really valuable as compared to the guidance. Guidance is just like a support to their independence work because if they do their independence work.

They have the ability to understand their concept, and they will also do the smart work. How to succeed the final goal?

So during this smart approach and doing the experiment and during the travel, definitely the student needed guidance on that time. We will have a detailed discussions either the literature point of view or pattern point of view or the market point of view.

So we can combine that, uh, root cause issues and find the data and find the solution. So that will helps to save the time for the students struggling at the one point.

Your strategy of prioritizing student independence while offering well-timed, structured guidance shows an effective balance between mentorship and fostering autonomy. Let us shift to your communication approach. How do you ensure your teaching and research instructions remain clear, structured, and accessible to students of varied backgrounds or comprehension levels?

So for the teaching structures, definitely we have the fixed classes and we just go through for the fixed syllabus, the main strategy is how the student can understand my teaching. So for that I previously mentioned that we need to have the detailed interaction during the classrooms, not only taking the classes on the time. So during the classroom we have the detailed interactions, we can have some. Assignment to the students to take the seminar.

And we have the group discussions during that particular topics that will helps to understand the students. So once the people, the students can understand the concepts easily that will also helps their exam more easily when they have any difficulties or if they have forgotten to something that group discussions will definitely help to.

Re keeping that concepts for the experimental point of view.

Definitely experiment point of view, they have some issues like for the data is not good, maybe they cannot able to interpret the correct data, maybe they cannot find the results or something like this. So based on this first I will I will tell my students you can have a group discussion with your colleagues first.

Try to find the solution by yourself.

The student self thinking will help or self evaluations will help to get the answer as soon as possible as compared to the.

Once you are not able to find definitely, we will have a group discussion to make it clear because.

Guidance.

An interactive and engaging classroom enriched by peer discussions and guided experimental troubleshooting ensures clarity of instruction and fosters deeper understanding. Moving to your research credentials, could you detail your experience in publishing research in reputed journals, and the impact those publications have had within your academic field?

Yes, of course during my PhD I just to published around uh, maybe like 8 or 9 papers only because umm, there is a small team during my PhD and uh, most of my papers is uh, focusing on umm.

It's of a small impact factors. So during my PhD, my maximum impact I published at the time is around 5 or 6 only. But when I go to the post doctoral research, we have the lot of experience about how to write the paper, how to condense the data and how to convince that results to the audience. What are the outputs we've got. So we have the lot of experience to gained, not only limit to the particular applications. So we go through. A lot of literatures patterns and for these market analysis to combine.

So that will help me to publish the impact factor close to 10 impact when I am doing in the PhD, sorry when I am doing in the postdoctoral researcher. So this will helps me to generate more paper. And interestingly, during my post-doctoral researchers, I spend 70% of my time to control the students for their experiment and their data analysis like XRDAPD or VSM and all the data also we just combine and we have the everyday half an hour.

To make the decision.

Half an hour group discussion and weekly we have a discussion with the professors to make the data collect on time. So therefore I can able to generate more papers. So therefore as a first author and a co-author I can able to publish 43 papers totally up to 2023.

Yes, uh, this is, uh, this is really very important, not only limit to the Orient. Therefore I move to the industrial job for the from 2023 onwards. So currently I'm working in the same industry and this industry, my main job is focusing on the R&D. Therefore I'm leading the team R&D in this industry. So the interesting thing is I am handling the multiple projects in my industry. That means in my current industry, I am handling for the multiple projects.

Your progression from PhD-level publications to achieving high-impact research during postdoctoral work reflects significant growth and contribution to your field, as evidenced by your extensive publication record. Now, can you elaborate on your involvement in industry projects or consultancy? How do you bridge academic research with practical industry applications?

Among these multiple projects, we have the manpower of five team members, We also doing the experiments, we also doing the analysis and we also doing the small scale to the large scale for the industrial setup and other things. Apart from these not only limit the research only where I am working.

I'm really interested for the collaborations or third party sources or other resources to make the product output as a successful as soon as possible. Therefore, you know, even I also have the collaboration with the VAT when I'm in the industry and I successfully achieved some preliminary data with the help of the VIT professors from the biotechnology department.

So simultaneously one side I have the collaboration, they will do the part of work of my product. In another site, my team is working how to develop the R&D product to the industrial product which means scale up process. So this will help me for the industry to make R&D product to the scale up product for the successful industrial product. Currently I developed three important product for my industry. I cannot going to give more details about these products.

For the outline of these three product is methanol catalyst.

What's uh, to get the high purity, which means 5 en purity of Sao 2 nanoparticles and the synthesis of silicon carbide, single crystal silicon carbide ingot. These three products I developed when, uh, when I am in industry, which means the current industry, my team developed three real product which already going to sell in the industry.

Your transition to industrial R&D and successful development of scalable products, such as methanol catalysts and high-purity nanoparticles, demonstrates a robust ability to apply academic research to practical industry needs. This concludes our evaluation of your skills. Thank you for your detailed responses.

OK.

Which introductory course in Chemical Engineering or Materials Science do you find most rewarding to teach, and why?

I'm interesting in the material science and also for the chemical engineering. For the material science, I am more experienced to prepare the nanoparticles because particularly currently my industries and I am interested in the Vit to introduce the new pathway of work.

New pathway of the R&D works that means high purity materials because you know now the India mission we need to have the 72,000 crores of the semiconductor industry.

Many countries particularly for Taiwan is the top country for the semiconductor but India is just started from 2023 end onwards. Now India is struggling for the high purity raw materials to make the successful semiconductor chip for the real world applications. So purity matters for the semiconductor industry. So I'm really interesting to develop a very high purity which means start from 4 end purity to 9N purity.

I purity raw materials which is really helpful for the India's mission between which means India's semiconductor mission.

To make the.

That sounds fascinating, Professor. Focusing on high-purity materials tailored for semiconductors aligns well with India's growing role in the global tech industry. Let me explore further—when teaching students about nanoparticle synthesis or high-purity materials, what strategies do you employ to simplify such technical concepts effectively for undergraduate learners?

Yeah, definitely. First we can compare that material, what they know, for example, how to synthesis the iron oxide nanoparticle. So we just tell them what is iron oxide nanoparticles, what's the purpose, what's the size we need to prefer, what's the application.

That material is going to use how the purity is important. So we need to tell the usage which means the purpose of the synthesis of particular material. We need to clarify that things to the student first that will help the students to understand and interesting to learn that particular topics.

Understood, Professor. Clarifying the purpose and application of materials—from synthesis to use—is indeed a powerful strategy to make the topic engaging and relatable for students. Thank you for sharing that approach.

Thank you.

Like during my PhD, my topic is mono dispersed nanoparticles. So mono dispersed means you need to control the size and shape of the nanoparticles. As I said previously, I just take only for iron oxide is my base material in that iron oxides. I just used different binders, different additives or different core shell concept to make the successful nanoparticles by controlling the size and shape.

Dr. Kumar, let us delve deeper into your research background. Your Ph.D. focused on monodispersed superparamagnetic Fe3O4 nanoparticles with applications in biomedical, environmental remediation, and energy storage. Can you explain how you integrated the principles of nanotechnology to optimize these applications? Specifically, what challenges did you encounter, and how did you address them?

So for example, if you prefer the spherical shape, that spherical shape with the size of less than 20 nanometer, it's good to have the core cell structure, that core cell structure which helps me to release the drug. For example, I use the doxorubine drug which is coated on the 20 nanometer size particle of FE304 nanoparticles then. This composite that means that drug loaded iron oxide nanoparticles will apply to the.

Breast cancer cells that will improve the breast cancer treatment which means it will kill the breast cancer cells and kill the breast cancer cells for around 80 to 85% and for the normal cells it will be keep safe for more than 95%. So which means the drug is particularly released to the targeted cancer cells that won't affect the normal cells. So that's the one application and for the another application the same size of the Nan.

Tickles is also used to 40 water purification, particularly for the OR sign purifications, so here the same material. But when I use these same spherical particle to the arsenic purification with the smaller size, my adsorption ability that means the removal of R sign, that means the removal of toxic or sign from the water is not high enough.

Because there I need a micro size particles. Here I face the difficulties about same material but different application. But the same size and shape is not applicable for the different applications. So what I did means for biomedical application are used to 20 nanometer size particles. But when I go for the water purification I increase the size to the one to five micrometer. Because when I increase the size to 1 to 5 micrometer with the.

Structure OK it have a lot of micro pose can able to absorb the R sign which can easily obtain the high removal of housing for the water purifications.

So like this, I just use the similar material with the diverse applications, but the risk factor is same material, same shape, same size. Not possible to use a diverse application. Depend upon the applications. You need to tune the structure, you need to tune the surface, which means the surface area. You need to tune the particle size and you need to optimize some other properties to make your final application success.

It sounds like you developed a nuanced understanding of tailoring nanoparticle properties to fit diverse applications, from cancer treatment to water purification. I want to explore further—how did you incorporate these findings into your pedagogical approach? For instance, how would you explain the challenges of tailoring nanoparticles for specific applications to undergraduate students who may be new to nanotechnology?

Yes.

Definitely, many students may be new for these nanotechnologies because they are come with the different backgrounds.

Who understand these, We need to tell how the nanoparticle is important for the current industry because a lot of applications currently depends on fully nanoparticles. Particularly for the 20th century, most of the applications is used as a nanoparticles. Even synthesizing nanoparticles is also not a difficult task as compared to the +1 DK pos-to-one DK, we don't have the lot of instrument facilities or lot of the high advanced instrument to.

Basis. But right now we have the very good infrastructure and a good instrumentation facilities and good characterization facilities to easily prepare the nanoparticles and we can also see a lot of commercial application they already use the nanoparticles for example maybe.