Sep 2020 – Present · 5 yrs 8 mos

• We developed a better menstrual pad. Our pad works by coagulation instead of merely absorbing blood. This makes us super dry, entirely plastic free, fully compostable and anti microbial!
• Better for your health and the planet.
• We launched in India last summer check us out - www.papayain.com

Jul 2019 – Jan 2023 · 3 yrs 6 mos

• Advanced Process Development | Operations
• These are multidisciplinary teams which work on the mechanical process development, manufacturing, material development, failure analysis, and reliability for the smart contact lens.
• Process Development & Scale-up:
• Developing encapsulation and polymer casting process for the lens and building process from a lab experimental setup to a production setup with increased throughput. This involved tuning curing and casting parameters, automating dispense setup, analysis of the rate of cure and flow rate of polymer, and design of components that go into the production setup. Analyzing cured polymer using FTIR and polarizing light.
• Development of processes for proper micro-optic and flexible circuit board assembly into the lens to avoid breakage and proper positioning of the electronics within the lens.
• Leadership:
• Led a small interdisciplinary team to solve an engineering and integration problem with a targeted approach. This included integration of our optics into the lens such that we can understand the failures around optics integration and can troubleshoot the manufacturing and design aspects. This involved design of experiments, analyzing existing data, process development, and interfacing with design engineers to get an increased yield of micro-optics integration in lens assemblies.
• Exploratory experiments:
• Designed and carried out experiments to study fogging characteristics and understand fogging phenomena in a gapped lens design. This involved, taking detailed water uptake measurements in controlled environments and analyzing fogging by weight measurements as well as time taken for fogging to dissipate.

Jul 2019 – Dec 2020 · 1 yr 5 mos

• Advanced Process Development
• Coding and Troubleshooting:
• Building a python code pipeline to analyze electrical connectivity test data at various points in the lens manufacturing process to create an understanding of when things break in the manufacturing process flow. This helped us tag failures and delve into the manufacturing processes that may have led to them.
• Material Characterization:
• Material characterization for oxygen permeability of rigid gas-permeable (RGP) polymer materials for use in the lens. Testing every RGP material developed in the lab against industry standards so that we get continuous feedback on material development. Using python to analyze data.
• Adhesion testing of glue materials developed for the gapped lens design by pull testing of numerous glue assemblies under various “aging” conditions. The failure mechanism of adhesion was observed and characterized, and this was used for iterative glue designs that finally made their way into the complete lens assembly.

Dec 2018 – Jul 2019 · 7 mos

• New Product Development:
• Lead engineer for the design and development of a new product that increases part life and significantly reduces costs for Applied Materials
• 3D printed various prototypes for basic functionality testing
• 2 Invention Disclosure Forms filed
• Design/Modeling:
• Fixtures for custom cleaning parts like showerheads gas distribution plates; RF filter box, general mechanical components in semiconductor processing equipment.
• The fixtures and RF filter box design are currently in use by the intended end user.
• Initiated redesign of pedestal ground shield by identifying key design flaws in existing design, recommended changes were implemented for future designs.
• Testing/Analysis:
• Lead hardware engineer & project manager for qualifying various machine components to reduce costs and improve performance in test chamber.
• Responsible for testing and validating various hardware kits, troubleshooting hardware & process related issues with tool and ensuring quick hardware changes for iterative testing.
• Analyzing test results and generating meaningful insights that influence future iterations.
• Supplier Engagement:
• Fostered collaboration with supplier by establishing weekly forum and communication platform, this is leading to development of custom products and targeted problem solving

Aug 2016 – Nov 2018 · 2 yrs 3 mos

Aug 2015 – Jan 2016 · 5 mos

• BioVitaal was a company started by Duke students to develop a chewing gum to combat Iron deficient Anemia. My responsibilities included, helping them conduct literature surveys for ways to increase iron absorption and to avoid staining of teeth due to iron compounds. I also helped design and manufacture the candy coating machine required to sugar coat the chewing gum.
• Skills: Manufacturing, 3D printing

Mar 2015 – Mar 2015 · 0 mo

• Reorganized and compiled the BUILD manual by updating the manufacturing process of the ELF and incorporating visualization for ease of understanding
• Skills: Technical writing

Jan 2015 – Apr 2016 · 1 yr 3 mos

• My research focuses on trying to develop a mechanism for non contact, non additive methods to actuate and control droplet motion on a superhydrophobic surface. Being able to manipulate water droplets can have a wide range of applications ranging from water harvesting, better heat transfer surfaces, self cleaning and for microfluidic diagnostic tools.
• The following are the things I have accomplished:
• Designed an electrode geometry through numerous iterations to successfully develop a design that traps water droplets at a point on a superhydrophobic surface.
• Modeled the electric field around the trapper to better understand the mechanism, using COMSOL Multi-physics package.
• Quantified the strength of the trapping force by analyzing the angle at which the droplet slides off the trapper.
• Visualized the trapping behavior by capturing 1000 frame per second video of the drop getting actuated.
• Studied the frequency dependence of the trapping force by sweeping through a long range of frequencies using a wave form generator.
• This trapper can be used to study dewetting state transitions of the droplet from Wenzel to Cassie state which has potential applications in the development of anti dew and anti fog surfaces. It can also be further developed for use as a generic toolset for digital microfluidics.
• Skills: Design and fabrication, experimental research, COMSOL modeling

Aug 2013 – Feb 2014 · 6 mos · Pune Area, India

• In prior experiments it was observed that when a solar cell is immersed in water there is an increase in the power output produced by it. Based on this phenomenon, collaborated in a team of 3, we built a novel non silicon solar cell.
• Fabricated various capacitor designs on a PCB and used these to study factors affecting energy harvesting
• Experimented with various metal oxides and organic materials to act as dielectrics to enhance energy harvesting capabilities
• Identified a set of operational parameters, that give higher power out, after repeated tests and analysis of the various designs

Dec 2012 – Dec 2014 · 2 yrs · Pune Area, India

• This was a curiosity lead project whereI wanted to figure out how strongly, Hydra, a fresh water organism sticks to a substrate (underwater adhesion). I designed a flow chamber to study the adhesive properties of the organism. I fabricated the flow chamber device using readily available materials.
• Engineered a home made device to study underwater adhesive properties of Hydra species in a flow chamber
• Calibrated the instrument with transition from laminar to turbulent flow, confirmed by scalar imaging
• Tested materials, to make a bending mechanism to measure force required to detach Hydra
• Visualized and processed the data using ImageJ
• Analyzed data and conducted hypothesis testing of results using T-test approach for small samples in MS Excel
• Formulated a novel expression for the shear stress required to detach Hydra from a substrate, using curve-fitting analysis in MATLAB
• Skills: Experimental research, MATLAB, design

Jun 2012 – Jul 2012 · 1 mo · Pune Area, India

• Modeled a sunflower-inspired solar tracker on ProEngineer
• Analytically determined stresses on the model against wind loads using elastic theory of bending and FBD diagrams
• Recommended configurations of the model was implemented in the 1st generation prototype