Bio
Damini Vrushabendrakumar received a Bachelor of Engineering (BE) degree in Electronics and Communication Engineering (ECE) from the Maharaja Institute of Technology (MIT) in Mysore, India followed by a Master of Technology (M.Tech) degree in Nanotechnology from the National Institute of Engineering (NIE), India. Her M.Tech program in Nanotechnology involved her dissertation project completed at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc). The research project was on the fabrication and characterization of a 2D-reduced graphene-based mercury detection sensor. After her M.Tech degree, she continued her research as a project assistant at the Centre for Nanoscience and Engineering (CENSE) at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) where she had an opportunity to assist PhD students in their research projects, especially in the fabrication and characterization of suspended 2D material-based NEMS devices. Currently, she is pursuing a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degree in nanostructured materials and devices from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering University of Alberta, Canada under the supervision of Prof. Karthik Shankar. Her Ph.D. thesis is on metal oxide semiconductor heterojunctions for photocatalysis. Her Ph.D. research involved experimental nanotechnologies, such as synthesizing a wide range of nanostructures (nanotube arrays and nanowires) and nanocomposites, forming metal oxide-based heterojunctions, and extensively characterizing nanostructures and testing the solar energy conversion application of fabricated nanomaterials & devices. Additionally, she enthusiastically engaged herself in transmission electron microscopic (TEM) characterization of synthesized materials to study fundamental and relevant scientific aspects. Presently she is working on novel inorganic and organic semiconductor-based nanosystems for potential applications in various areas of renewable energy harvesting, such as photocatalysis, sensing, and photovoltaics. Meanwhile, she is involved in a teaching assistantship as a part of the Ph.D. program where she assists undergraduate students in coursework and projects in microfabrication and devices, optoelectronics, and photovoltaic devices. She also had an opportunity to pursue a 3 months research exchange program at the Technical University of Munich (TUM), Germany as a part of the Alberta Technical University of Munich International Graduate School for Hybrid Functional Materials (ATUMS) program.
