Mar 2020 – Jul 2021 · 1 yr 4 mos

• Led the Technology Development Fund Desk, set-up in collaboration with the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). Responsibilities included setting up the Desk at Invest India including hiring of resources, setting up project coordination structures, and daily operations.
• The Desk handled 4 areas of work -
• 1. End-to-end project management of the Technology Development Fund Scheme
• 2. Outreach & branding of the scheme to Indian industry, MSMEs, and startups via online and offline engagements
• 3. Technology Grid and other IT systems support including re-development of the Scheme website
• 4. Feasibility reports detailing technical, market and financial feasibility of project requirements from the tri-services, DRDO labs and DPSUs.
• Snapshot of achievements in the first year of the MoU can be found here - https://www.investindia.gov.in/team-india-blogs/strengthening-indias-defence-innovation-ecosystem-technology-development-fund

Jun 2018 – Mar 2020 · 1 yr 9 mos

• Senior Manager leading Strategy, Governance and Program-level Initiatives for AGNIi, an innovation program of the Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India.
• Accelerating Growth of New India's Innovations (AGNIi) is a convening platform which seeks to support S&T interventions from startups and publicly funded R&D and academic institutions towards achieving growth and human development by mobilizing innovators, identifying and aggregating adopters, and convening suitable de-risking interventions through collaborations with existing networks and programs.
• A longer term vision for the program includes developing a globally connected platform that will link Indian S&T research and development assets and talent to help solve global problems especially through promoting spread of innovations, technologies and knowledge to other countries facing similar socio-economic and technological challenges.

Apr 2015 – Apr 2018 · 3 yrs

• I worked as a researcher and project manager on a variety of US DoE (Department of Energy)-funded projects in domains such as solar photovoltaics, smart energy-efficient buildings, and grid technologies. I was an integral part of multiple collaborative R&D projects with private companies, government entities, and academic institutions.
• Led the two phases of a US SBIR (Small Business Innovation Research) technology validation and demonstration project comprising activities from site contracting, experiment setup to final presentation to the US Department of Energy. The first phase dealt with retrofit of an airport hangar with energy efficient lighting using a novel power distribution technology (Digital Electricity). The second phase involved piloting the technology at a luxury hotel complex in Fort Worth, Texas.
• Involved in system integration and testing of the entire Plug and Play PV system developed under the US Department of Energy’s SunShot Initiative, including electrical components (inverter, module-level power electronics), mechanical systems (enclosures, cabling, connectors) and IT infrastructure. Coordinated with Sandia National Laboratories and external vendors to get NRTL testing done for the power distribution electronics. Further, led the team that demonstrated the installation and commissioning of the 3kW residential PV system in less than 2 hours in June 2016.
• Part of the team working on the SHINES (Sustainable and Holistic Integration of Energy Storage and Solar PV) project, funded by the US DoE and MassCEC. Coordinated with a leading utility and several external partners to develop control and communication systems for integrated operations of a utility scale PV plant, co-located ESS and Demand Response.
• Part of team that won US DoD (Department of Defence) ESTCP (Environmental Security Technology Certification Program) funding to accelerate adoption of energy efficient solid-state lighting at military installations.

Jan 2015 – Apr 2015 · 3 mos

• Fraunhofer CSE is one of seven centers of Fraunhofer USA Inc., a 501(c)(3) non-profit contract R&D organization. Fraunhofer USA Inc. works closely with Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, Europe's largest contract R&D organization

Aug 2014 – Jan 2015 · 5 mos · Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

• Assisted in research activities at the Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering (ECE). Projects included system-level data analysis for assessing the impact of coal power plant retirements in the US and devising stable power flow algorithms for IEEE power system test cases.

Aug 2013 – Jul 2014 · 11 mos · Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Jul 2012 – Aug 2012 · 1 mo · New Delhi, India

• As summer intern, learnt about the operation of a Electrical Distribution Company. Further, worked at the state-of-the-art Outage Monitoring Cell, helping manage system outages and restoration efforts in a time bound manner. Also introduced to SCADA systems employed in the distribution network.

Jun 2012 – Jul 2012 · 1 mo · New Delhi, India

• As a management trainee, reviewed and tested IT services offered at Dabur (3rd largest FMCG company in India). Involved with reporting and assessing client requirements.

Jul 2011 – Aug 2011 · 1 mo · Bangalore, India

• Worked on a project on Integrated Vehicle Health Management system for aerospace applications under the National Civil Aircraft development project.