VISHAL S ACHARYA

       Vishal begain his research career at the Rarified Gas Dynamics Lab of IIT Madras in 2003 where he worked on Combustion Instability Modeling for Solid Rocket Motors. During this time, he also worked with the Indian Space Research Organization in applying his research to their GSLV Mark 3 launch Vehicle. He graduated with both a Bachelor's and Master's degree in July 2007 soon after which he joined the Combustion Lab at Georgia Tech in Fall 2007 for MS/PhD. His thesis presents a theoretical model for the response of three-dimensional swirling premixed flames to non-axisymmetric disturbances. These models are important for linear stability analysis of swirl combustors commonly used in air-breathing gas turbines. Since his graduation in 2013, he has continued as a Research Engineer in the same lab, focusing on R&D that transitions academic research to proprietary internal tools in the industry as well as fundamental research problems focused on gas turbine combustion dynamics using theoretical, numerical, statistical and computational tools.

       In his limited spare time, Vishal has an active hobby in professional painting and digital arts. As part of this he has worked on development of software for animation and visual effects used in mainstream ads and movies, and also applied his skills as an artist in some of these undertakings. He also enjoys long drives and road trips, exploring nature every step of the way.