Ranganathan Parthasarathy

Assistant Professor
Civil and Architectural Engineering

Dr. Parthasarathy’s teaching experience parallels his research; he has taught fundamental courses including Continuum Mechanics, the Finite Element Method, Strength of Materials, Engineering Statics, General Physics including Mechanics and Thermodynamics (Instructor), Soil Mechanics (Instructor) as well as applied courses on Biomaterials, Computer Simulation in Biomechanics, and Biofluids (Teaching Assistant). He adopts a teaching style that stresses on conceptual clarity, rigorous training, and preparedness towards current demands in academia and industry. Dr. Parthasarathy takes genuine interest in student success and has advised undergraduate and graduate students in his capacity as a postdoctoral researcher. Several students who worked with him are successfully pursuing doctoral research in various scientific fields or have joined the industry as engineers.

   Parthasarathy

Office: 108C Torrence Hall
Phone: 615-963-5427
Email: rparthas@tnstate.edu
https://rangaparthas.wixsite.com/rparthasarathy

EDUCATION

  • Ph.D. Bioengineering, University of Kansas, 2013
  • M.S. Civil Engineering, University of Missouri-Kansas City, 2007
  • B.S. Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology-Madras, 2005

APPOINTMENTS

  • Adjunct Instructor, Department of Civil Engineering, Tennessee State University
  • Research Associate, Department of Mathematics and Physics, Tennessee State University

HONORS AND AWARDS

  • Graduate Engineering Award, Sigma Xi Research Showcase (2013)
  • Research Fellowship, KU (2010)
  • Strobel Scholarship, KU (2008)
  • Outstanding Graduate Paper, American Concrete Institute (2007)
  • Honorable Mention, Pre-stressed Concrete Institute (2007)
  • Outstanding Graduate Student, UMKC (2006) 

RESEARCH INTERESTS

Dr. Parthasarathy studies mechanical behavior and structure-property relationships of materials. His modeling work involves bridging mechanics from discrete to continuum scale, and is complemented by his experimental work using a range of characterization techniques. He has worked on the following areas:

  • Finite temperature continuum theory based on inter-atomic potentials: Higher order continuum measures from molecular dynamics simulation for crystalline and amorphous solids
  • Soft chemically active fibrous materials: Derivation of poromechanical constitutive laws combining micromechanics of fiber networks and chemical potential of fluid phase for articular cartilage, dentin adhesives, and hydrogels
  • Multi-physics characterization of biological interfaces: Multivariate statistics applied to hyperspectral data from micro-Raman and FTIR imaging to obtain pseudo-color maps of chemical composition. Coupling of chemical maps with scanning acoustic microscopy to obtain structure property relationships. Method applied to dentin adhesive interface, caries affected dentin, mice kidney, and TMJ disc.
  • Experimental characterization of bonding: e.g. between super-hard ceramic rhenium diboride with Teflon and high density polyethylene using micro-tensile testing, optical and scanning electron microscopy

Dr. Parthasarathyhas co-authored 4 book chapters, 20 peer-reviewed journal publications, and has contributed to 18 presentations of his research results at national and international conferences. He has been a reviewer for 9 journals and is active in professional societies including Engineering Mechanics Institute, Applied Vacuum Society, and European Mechanics society. He chairs minisymposia dealing with computational modeling in the Granular Mechanics group at the Engineering Mechanics Institute Conference.





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