Prof. Rama Govindarajan
Distinguished Alumni Award in recognition of her outstanding achievements in Teaching and Research
Award Year: 2022 | Degree Year: 1984
Rama Govindarajan is a 1984-batch B.Tech. (Chemical Engineering) graduate from IIT Delhi. She obtained a Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering from the Indian Institute of Science and was a postdoctoral fellow at CalTech. She is a Senior Professor and Dean Academic at the International Centre for Theoretical Sciences of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, in Bengaluru. Earlier she worked at the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research and the National Aerospace Laboratories. Rama’s group does research on fluid mechanics, questioning the fundamentals of our knowledge.
At some Reynolds number, laminar flow goes unstable, which is often the first step in the transition to turbulence. In flows where viscosity varies by a small amount, Rama discovered an instability at Reynolds numbers two orders of magnitude lower than in constant viscosity flow. Now, small variations in the viscous force, which is itself small, were not expected to make any difference, whereas this departure is huge. Rama explained that viscosity variation constitutes a singular perturbation, which can make it very important.
In clouds, tiny droplets form due to condensation of supersaturated water vapour on aerosol particles. But growth beyond 10 microns is too slow by this mechanism, whereas we know that raindrops are of millimeter size. Turbulence is often stated to be an enabler of droplets colliding against each other, and coalescing to grow bigger. Rama’s theory explains how tiny drops can collide near a single vortex in turbulence to seed this growth.
Over a dozen of Rama’s former students and postdoctoral fellows are faculty members in IITs. She is a Fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Sciences, India, the Indian National Science Academy, and the American Physical Society. She won the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize in Engineering in 2007.
In honouring Prof. Rama Govindarajan, IIT Delhi recognizes the outstanding contributions made by her to the field of Teaching and Research. Through her achievements, Dr. Govindarajan has brought glory to the name of the Institute.
