Yes.

Please start by introducing your professional journey in academia

I have been completed my PhD in physical. From online W Chennai in 2019. After that I have been working as an Assistant professor in Department of Physics in Axillion College Value.

Alright, so you completed your PhD in Physics from Chennai and have been working as an Assistant Professor at Axillion College. Anything else you'd like to add about your academic journey or key milestones before we move forward?

And I have been on my. Research area is mainly on energy storage devices like. Yes, I have been particularly working on a super capacitors and I have a. Published some novel materials as an electrode material for a supercapacitors and. I have published a recent publications in a peer reviewed journals and which is the scope as the index also. For the last two years I have been published 3 journals. Which are in a. Which are some impact factor also and it is a Scopus. Scopus in. Scopus indexed journals. And my research area is a fabricating electrode materials.

You mentioned your research in supercapacitors and electrode materials. When you're teaching, is there a foundational physics concept you especially enjoy introducing to students?

And the basically in a transition metal oxides and I have been working in quadrant based and also hybrid based supercapacitors. Yes, I found it is essential to. Teacher and also. To explain them practically. About the. Integrating both conceptual as also experimental things I have to teach them. Which creates. Interest in students.

You talked about blending conceptual and experimental teaching, especially with supercapacitors and electrode materials. Can you give me a concrete example of how you've brought a complex topic—say, transition metal oxides—to life for your students in the classroom?

Yeah, in a supercapacitors, we use a transition metal oxides. I can take the transition metal oxides. Conduction band theory I can combine with with conduction band theory in solid-state. OK, so there are three conduction, there are three bands like? A conduction band and a insulator and then a semiconductor band out of that which I take transition metal oxides with that. There are semiconductors which has been applied in super capacitors. When decreasing the resistance I can able to attain conductivity more. The conduction will be more. So when I.

Okay, so you link conduction band theory with transition metal oxides and show how lowering resistance increases conductivity in supercapacitors. How do you handle students who struggle to grasp these solid-state concepts—do you have a particular strategy or classroom approach for making them less abstract?

When I. Summit the High. I can compare it with. Yeah, there are so many research articles where they have been published about the conduction resistivity. I can take them live examples from the. Different materials I can show when improving the material structure and improving the particle size, we can attain more. Conduction. That means the capacitance can be.

When I. Summit the High. I can compare it with. Yeah, there are so many research articles where they have been published about the conduction resistivity. I can take them live examples from the. Different materials I can show when improving the material structure and improving the particle size, we can attain more. Conduction. That means the capacitance can be. I can give some examples from the. Articles that has been published.

Dr., I noticed your recent publication, “Design and strategies of three-dimensional framework Cu2SnS3 nanorods for high-performance supercapacitors.” How has the research from that paper influenced the way you teach physics topics—especially energy storage—to your undergraduate students?

Right, so you use real-world examples from published articles to show how material structure and particle size impact conduction and capacitance. When you're selecting references for your lectures, how do you decide which articles or studies will be most effective for helping students grasp the topic?

When going to nanostructures everything matters. That means the particle size and the pore size. That everything has been studied by using various characterizations, better analysis, M analysis. Then particle size can be found from temp. All the characterization results I can. I can give as an example for the students and which can help them for to understand how. We have to refine the nanostructures to attain high benefits in a. In a. In a material. And also. In a particularly in a supercapacitors, electrochemical studies OK that play a main role. For supercapacitors. Cyclic voltammetry. How we take? The electrode material. That things that plots can be given as an example how the oxidation and the reduction reaction happens in electrode material, how the pose is placed a vital role in the interfacial layers between the electrode and the electrolyte. That can be explained for the students to grasp the idea of how the charge has been stored.

In electrode material and how it is important to synthesize an anomaly with the defined morphology. And now also. And also having high surface area, all these things that can be experimentally thought.

Okay, so you use characterization techniques and electrochemical studies—like cyclic voltammetry—to help students visualize how charge storage actually works in supercapacitors. Thinking about your experience, what's one challenge you've faced when translating cutting-edge research results into undergraduate teaching, and how did you address it?

You emphasized synthesizing electrode materials with a defined morphology and high surface area, and teaching those concepts experimentally. That's a hands-on approach. Before we wrap this section—how do you evaluate whether students have genuinely grasped these advanced material science concepts, especially given the gap between research-level understanding and undergraduate knowledge?

Yeah, we can give. Practical session. Like us, we have to do one session as a. Experimentally synthesizing path, OK, we have to take them to the lab and we have to synthesizing some. Simple material like nickel oxide or a cerium oxide like that a simple material can be how we have to synthesize that by using a novel technique and we can after synthesizing it before the students we. We have to send them to various characterization and make them to plot the. Graph Plot the graphs chart for. While finding out the. Particle size, end of fitting the XRD plots and the same analysis, after doing all the characterization, they can able to understand it better. SO1 practical and experimental session is a very crucial for students for especially for undergraduate students to understand the. Concept of. Researched Supercapacity. Research on supercapacitors and. Uh, in when a theoretically featured.

Given your research focus on supercapacitors and electrode materials, where do you see the most fundable directions in the next few years? Are there specific grants or funding agencies you’d target for this work?

In a, in a future and also in the current, there has been a great demand for our energy storage devices and DST has been given 4 grants. They have opened four proposals, ongoing proposals in the month of April, we can apply for that and also DRDOF has been funding. Agencies for energy storage devices.

Particularly DSD and DRDO. Can we can approach them with a defined? Proposal.

You pointed out DST and DRDOF as active funding agencies for energy storage research. How would you structure your group’s research output to maximize the chances of winning those grants—what would your publication or collaboration strategy look like?

Mm-hmm.

When approaching the When approaching for the proposal.

You highlighted the importance of defining a clear proposal when approaching DST and DRDOF, tying it to current funding opportunities. Let's shift gears for a moment—thinking about your teaching methods, if you were running a large undergraduate physics class without access to slides, how would you create an engaging session that helps students actively wrestle with the material?

I have to make a defined a clear cutting proposal like the outline objectives, significance and also the clear budget. On explaining how. The novel will be and how it. GL for. Yeah, like we have to take the electronic EV vehicles. And also we have to focus on some electronic wearable devices which are flexible for the. So we have to be futuristic on how the energy storage devices are applicable in a future electronic devices. Like that may create some interest in undergraduate students to do their research in energy storage devices, which is a. Which is the essential one? To explain them with a live examples and the current trend.

I have to make a defined a clear cutting proposal like the outline objectives, significance and also the clear budget. On explaining how. The novel will be and how it. GL for. Yeah, like we have to take the electronic EV vehicles. And also we have to focus on some electronic wearable devices which are flexible for the. So we have to be futuristic on how the energy storage devices are applicable in a future electronic devices. Like that may create some interest in undergraduate students to do their research in energy storage devices, which is a. Which is the essential one?

Accreditation cycles can be demanding—if you joined our department and found that outcome assessment data was inconsistent across courses, how would you approach fixing that?

Right, so you’d use current trends like EVs and wearable devices to spark student interest and anchor your course in practical examples. If you noticed that outcome assessment data was inconsistent across courses—say, some courses had strong lab reports while others lacked clear rubrics—how would you go about fixing that for accreditation purposes?

So we can fix the. Fix that. Uh, by using uh. The experimental methods and we can introduce some courses like. Uh, renewable energy storage devices and non renewable energy storage devices, particularly a Cosa has been. Uh, you know, introduced to them on. On a energy sources. For the undergraduate students to know what are the energy facility, what are the energies?

So we can fix the. Fix that. Uh, by using uh. The experimental methods and we can introduce some courses like. Uh, renewable energy storage devices and non renewable energy storage devices, particularly a Cosa has been. Uh, you know, introduced to them on. On a energy sources. For the undergraduate students to know what are the energy facility, what are the energies? And how to store them?

You suggested introducing new courses—like renewable and nonrenewable energy storage devices—to help fix inconsistencies in outcome assessment, and focusing on hands-on experimental methods. But accreditation often needs more than just new courses or labs; it requires clear criteria and documented outcomes. What steps would you take to ensure every course actually meets those accreditation standards, day-to-day?

You suggested introducing new courses and practical lab sessions to address inconsistencies, making outcome assessments more standardized. Accreditation also requires ongoing documentation and evidence—how would you ensure that faculty across the department consistently collect and report this data year after year?

We have to work as a team to collect the data. And to report it.

Imagine this scenario: a student in your class files a formal complaint, claiming your grading is biased. Meanwhile, your department head is pressuring you to boost pass rates in the course. How would you handle that situation and balance academic integrity with those institutional pressures?

Uh, where in a teaching, uh, when where I kind of. I can identify the weak students yearly as. As it is possible and I can give them a special. Umm, mentoring and some extra classes has been taken for them. To understand the concepts better. And to improve it. And also I can. And also I can prove that it should be a. Uh uh, concept oriented and also student-centered teaching.

Okay, so you’d identify weaker students early and give them extra mentoring and concept-focused teaching. But if the department head disagreed with your approach—say, they insisted you lower grading standards instead—how would you respond?

I assured it should be a. Concept based and also students.

You’re saying you’d stick to concept-based and student-centered grading, even if pressured to lower standards. That’s clear. In a real situation, how would you communicate your stance to the department head—especially if they were persistent about raising pass rates?

I make sure. There will be no weaker students in my class. I can I have a confidence in me that I will teach better and I can make the students to understand the concepts better in everyday class. I can monitor them by using continuous assessment and also by by having a classroom interaction like a problem solving or a questions questions section we can conduct. From that we can understand who understands the concept. And and who lacks in the concept? From that I can able to rectify it in a daily based classes and I won't drag it to that. In uh, I receive a week or a. Uh, percentage.

You emphasized continuous assessment and daily interaction to catch gaps early, so you’re confident you won’t have weaker students dragging down the results. If you were in a situation where you had to defend this approach to a persistent department head, what language or evidence would you use to show that it’s working and you’re maintaining academic integrity?

If suppose it happens.

Uh, I can. Able to. I can able to prove by using a continuous assessments and by by. Mentoring students.

You said if it happens, you’d use classroom interaction and continuous assessment to catch gaps right away. If you had to present your case to the department head, what kind of data or student feedback would you show them to demonstrate your approach is working and you’re not compromising academic standards?

Professor, let’s look at how you connect students with real-world opportunities. Given your background in energy storage devices and flexible electronics, do you have any industry collaborations or connections that could translate into internships or placement opportunities for students?

Surely I can bring an industry collaboration or under under connection to bring students for their internship in energy storage devices. It is most essential one to. To make the students to join in industry collaboration.

You said you can bring industry collaboration for internships in energy storage devices, and that's essential for students. Can you give me a concrete example—what companies or research labs have you worked with or have connections to, and how would you leverage those relationships for student placements?

Now the Tata EV has been in Mumbai. It has been working on. Working with the. They are giving opportunities for students internship. And also, uh, the. Various electrochemical workstation places and in electric vehicles. They are giving internship for the students to work in energy storage devices.

Okay, shifting gears — let's run through a few skills that are key for this role. Starting with theoretical physics: suppose you're designing a curriculum for undergrads, and you want to introduce a modern topic like quantum entanglement. What's your approach for making that concept accessible to students who've only had a basic introduction to quantum mechanics?

Are the basic ideas how I start quantum mechanics for a student is? I start from a mechanics. Mechanics means the motion of a particles. And also I will tell them. Mechanics has been classified into two types, that is classical mechanics and quantum. Classical mechanics basically deals with the particles that are bigger in size OK that we can be studied by. Why various techniques? And the quantum particles which are microscopic in a size. For the motion of the particles like motion of the particle. Which are in quantum size. Has been studied by various microscopic techniques. Under the basic thing. Of the motion of a particle that has been the wave nature of the particle has been introduced by. Schrodinger equation which relates the state of a particle.

So you’re starting with the distinction between classical and quantum mechanics, then connecting the wave nature and Schrodinger equation to bridge the gap. In practice, when students get stuck on entanglement—say, they’re confused about how measurement on one particle affects the other—what classroom strategies or analogies have you found work best to help them grasp that?

So it is a collection of particles like a quanta means a collection of a particles. So from one particle band theory structures can be explained them. We can give various example like hydrogen atom model. Then helium atom model. That are the various things in a in a quant. In quantum mechanics, basic atom models. From that we can give us a. How it you know how the energy function has been uh. Introduced and how we are finding out energy in that. With some examples we can teach them.

Alright, you used hydrogen and helium atom models to explain quantum mechanics basics, but when it comes to semiconductor device physics—let’s say you’re working with students who need to understand charge transport in thin film transistors. What’s your go-to demonstration or experiment to help them visualize how carriers move in those devices?

For a thin film transistors. We can now go for silicon based on. How we caught the. How we quote the material.

Alright, you mentioned silicon and the coating process for thin film transistors. If you had limited lab resources—say, you couldn't use expensive deposition equipment—how would you adapt your demonstration or teaching so students could still see charge transport principles in action?

As a thin film which can enable.

You started to say "As a thin film which can enable..." but didn't finish. Can you walk me through how you'd demonstrate carrier movement in a thin film transistor when you don't have access to advanced lab tools?

By having some simulation tools I can be able to understand them by visual visual. Visualize way.

You said you'd use simulation tools to help students visualize carrier movement in thin film transistors—that's a smart workaround when labs are limited. Let's talk about machine learning for a moment. If you were supervising a student project where they wanted to predict battery degradation in energy storage devices using real-world sensor data, what machine learning approach would you recommend and why?

Machine learning approach can be. Advice to them because before. Before I. How before synthesizing and working on it, if we are able to stimulate it earlier, we can go for a better materials.

You mentioned simulating before synthesizing materials—that's a solid way to save resources. But let's say the sensor data is noisy and the degradation patterns aren't obvious. Would you lean toward a supervised approach like regression, or maybe something unsupervised to uncover hidden patterns? Why that direction?

And we can able to detect the battery degradation and. So if if I if it is and we can do it practically and we can able to do it. In an experimental way. And we can synthesize the materials and we can test.

Alright, sounds like you’d want to validate degradation predictions experimentally after modeling. Let’s shift to quantum computation—imagine you’re teaching a seminar where students have to implement a basic quantum algorithm, maybe Grover’s search or a simple quantum gate circuit. What would you focus on to help students grasp the practical challenges they’d face compared to classical programming?

By you by having a summer DfT theory by.

You started to say "By having a summer DfT theory by..." but didn't finish. Can you walk me through what you'd actually emphasize in a seminar to help students understand the practical challenges of implementing quantum algorithms compared to classical ones?

By having some DfT modeling we can able to teach them. Yeah.

Alright, you mentioned teaching quantum algorithms through DfT modeling, but that's pretty high-level. For students actually implementing, what would you say is the toughest part for them—understanding qubit superposition, handling decoherence, or something else? Why do students usually stumble there?

They find difficult to understand the concept of qubit. And also quantum tunneling concepts here. So we can able to understand them by having some. Uh, visualise. Position only we can make some videos for them to understand how. The uh. Electrons that. And all that we can we. Show them.

Okay, so you pointed out students struggle with qubits and quantum tunneling, and you use videos to help them visualize those concepts. Switching gears, let’s talk about teaching and academic skills. When you design assessments for a physics course, how do you make sure your questions actually test deep conceptual understanding instead of just memorization?

We have to. Keep assessment based on problem solving. And also circuit design.

Yeah, we have to make them to design A circuit for our sensors. For an example sensor means.

Alright, you said problem solving and circuit design are your focus for assessments. Thinking about research publications—when you’re preparing a manuscript for a top-tier physics journal, what’s your strategy for making sure your results and methods are clear enough that other researchers can reproduce them without confusion?

You were starting to give an example with sensors and circuit design in research publications. But when you’re writing up your results for a journal, how do you decide what details—like the exact sensor calibration steps or circuit specs—are necessary to include so someone else can really replicate your experiment?

Yeah, it is essential for. So yeah, everyone can understand the concept and also, uh. Uh. When reproducibility is also. More essential in the research, OK. So yeah. It should. Be a clear one No, I like to have the team for giving us. The opportunity to. Uh, to present myself in this interview.

Yeah, it is essential for. So yeah, everyone can understand the concept and also, uh. Uh. When reproducibility is also. More essential in the research, OK. So yeah.

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