Dr. Sharad Pachpute
CFD Engineer
Ph.D, M.Tech. (IIT, Delhi)
Q1. Please share your educational and professional journey with us?
I was born in a simple farming family near Narayangaon in Pune district. I completed my schooling in rural areas. I was never a topper but motivated by my school teachers. They told me “Realize your potential and study hard for your Better Future” irrespective your background. Their words seriously affected my next educational life.
After completion of my HSC, I joined Amrutvahini College of Engineering, Sangamner affiliated to Pune University. There I performed well in academia and had been among top three in the class. Many my friends joined industry jobs just after their BE. But I did not show any interest in jobs as I was much focused for the GATE exam to get admission in IITs for M.Tech. After consistent preparation, I secured all India rank 129 with in the GATE exam for mechanical engineering. Based on my good performance in a written test and interview, I got selected for M.Tech. in IIT, Delhi. There I saw bright students from different parts of India, and well experienced faculties. A research exposure motivated me to think for further higher education even after my M.Tech. degree. Some M.Tech. Students left IIT Delhi and joined government jobs. They suggested me to join PSUs job but I replied them what is the scope of higher education in PSUs if they hire only B.Tech. based people.
After discussions with IIT professors, I realized that rather than the big legend of USA or European universities, your knowledge and skills are important for future growth. Some people also suggested that a burning area and its industrial demand are important for the selection a PhD thesis topic. To get industrial exposure I joined a leading French conglomerate, Altran Technologies India Pvt. Ltd. During my first industry job, I learnt industrial skills and how work productively with a proper management skill. With the profound support of my M.Tech. guide and my industry supervisor, I joined a Ph.D program in IIT, Delhi as part-time basis. Due to heavy work load in industry and more course work of PhD, I left the industry job and joined the full time PhD program with institute assistantship.
My industry experience helped how to work efficiently for my PhD. I worked fulltime on my PhD research for 2.5 years including weekend without any leave or holidays. I used to prepare a framework of research work. My hard work, focus, dedication and without distraction from social portals resulted in the completion of my PhD work in fewer years with nine subtopics or reputed international publications. Research is always interdisciplinary. In fact, the knowledge of few subjects or one engineering stream is not enough in order to develop a successful innovative product/idea. Hence, I kept learning many subjects beyond my stream as per industrial or futuristic scope during my PhD work. Indian and foreign examiners impressed with my long but extremely well written thesis. They awarded my PhD thesis work with “Distinction in Doctoral Research”.
After completion my PhD, I kept learning new knowledge and skills for new opportunities. That helped for me getting the contract basis job in NTPC NETRA, where I got the exposure various industrial problems. Based on my strong academic background with industrial experience, I received many job offers from industries and Post-doctorate from Zhejiang International University, China. However, I joined AGFIS, Pune for CFD Engineer as part of research and development. There I have kept learning for new knowledge and skills for better opportunities. Due to disruptive changes or innovations, the world is changing in technology to adopt better effect; hence we must be ready to accept such changes. To survive in today’s competitive environment, we have to learn new knowledge and new skills. Based on my educational and industrial experience, I can conclude the life in a simple statement:
“Prepare the framework of your life and be focused and dedicated to fulfill your dream. Learning is growth in life and achieving the growth is your responsibility.”
Q2. You are a CFD Engineer. What role do you play as a CFD Engineer?
I have been working in the areas of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). This is a tool of physics predication and to improve the performance of mechanical, chemical and aerospace industries. As a CFD engineer, my role is to improve the performance of product by doing research and analysis using the CFD analysis softwares and knowledge of engineering subjects.
Q3. You have a great proficiency in Computer with Languages too. How it is helpful in your job?
Knowledge of different engineering softwares like programming languages (C, C++ and python etc.) are essential to get jobs in industries. As per requirement of industrial problem or level of engineering work, some companies use different softwares compared to other companies. Hence, it is important keep learning the softwares as per industry demand.
Q4. You had done PhD from IIT, Delhi. What was your that experience and what was your Thesis topic?
Initially, I joined for a Ph.D program in IIT Delhi part time basis. For first year I had worked in the areas of multiphase flow. Due to difficulties or uncertainties in research, I changed my PhD topic to “Experimental and numerical investigation of turbulent jet impingement heat transfer” with the suggestions from my supervisor Prof. B. Premachandran.
During my Ph.D work, every day I used to do a literature survey and its critical analysis in the relevant fields. That helped me to get the right direction as well as competency of my PhD research work. I also focused to learn various skills for experimental and CFD set up followed by interpretation of results. A well prepared research plan before doing an experiment took less time to achieve the desired target. At the end I summed all subtopics with their results in a single PhD thesis work. Overall, from my PhD I learnt how to get solutions of unsolved complex problems in an innovative way using existing resources. That makes a clear difference of PhD from Master or Bachelor degree.
Q5. You did your B.Tech in Mechanical Engineering, then M.Tech. in Thermal Engineering. After that you have worked in various industries? What kind of hurdles did you face in your journey?
I completed my B.Tech. in Mechanical engineering. During the last year of B.Tech, I realized that a master degree from reputed institutes is essential in order to get core jobs. To join IITs for the students from private engineering colleges, the biggest hurdle is to crack the GATE exam with all India rank within top 200. Hence, after my B.Tech. I prepared well with full focus and obtained a good rank. By clearing the written test and interview, I got my desired branch of Master Degree (M.Tech.) in IIT, Delhi. After my M.Tech. I worked in nuclear, power plant and petroleum industries. Because of openness in learning new skills and knowledge, I have got opportunities in different sectors. Interviewers were impressed my technical and presentation skills.
Q6. You are running a Blog on CFD. Please share something about that Blog?
After doing a long term survey, I realized that there is a lacuna between academia and industries for some specialized and challenging topics. In academia, students have a good theoretical and basic knowledge but lack in skills and industrial applications. However, industry professionals have good skills but lack of basic understanding of specialized topics. Many industries are running online or offline training programs to train their employees. Due to limited course work, they cannot get enough time to learn new methods in specialized topics. To connect basic concepts and industrial applications, I have created an online learning platform using the blog. Many online learning resources like references, books and videos are given on one page as a blog. Easy to access without much delay in opening PDF files or video files. Despite of many online forums, I have received positive feedbacks about my blog from many people from academia and industry professionals.
Q7. What kind of problems have you seen in your Industry/Domain and how will you remove it?
As part of research and development, I always face the problem of undesired results in development of new products. To overcome such problems, I learn from the experience of seniors, advanced engineering subjects and update the softwares skill.
Q8. What do you do in your free time? Do you update yourself in terms of education?
In free time, I go to garden for work out and physical exercise. In my spare time, I watch YouTube videos of experts to get updated knowledge for social, health and current issues.
Q9. How do you motivate yourself at every morning?
At every morning, I take a review of previous activities, learn and motivate from past mistakes and undesired outputs. Make ready for better tomorrow.
