Principal Investigator
Dr. Yagnaseni Roy is an Assistant Professor in the Centre for Sustainable Technologies (CST) at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore. Prior to joining IISc, she completed her post-doctoral training at the University of Twente, in the Sustainable Process Technology (SPT) group. She attained her MS and PhD degrees at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), in Prof. John H. Lienhard's group in the Mechanical Engineering Department. Her postdoctoral and graduate work focused on inter-species selectivity in nanofiltration (NF) and reverse osmosis (RO) membranes, using both experimental and numerical modeling-based investigations. Her passion is in solving industrially and societally relevant separation problems by developing the techno-economically optimized ‘recipe’ using membrane separations and/or other separation technologies.
Her CV is attached below:
PhD Students
Milana is a graduate from Dayananda Sagar College of Engineering in the field of Biotechnology and is currently pursuing a PhD at the Center for Sustainable Technologies, IISc. She has a passion for dance and is a student of Bharatanatyam. She served as a volunteer in an NGO, tutoring lower grade students. She is an awardee of Rajya Puraskar from the Bharat Scouts and Guides. She enjoys sketching, reading novels and cooking. Her undergraduate project was funded by the Karnataka State Council for Science and Technology (KSCST), IISc.
Aparna is a PhD student at the Centre for Sustainable Technologies, IISc Bengaluru. Prior to this, she has worked as Project associate at the same department, as well as consultant/engineer at multiple engineering consultancies within the energy industry. Her qualifying degree is an Integrated Masters in Chemical Engineering from the University of Aberdeen, Scotland. During her time at UoA, she was awarded the Norman Levy Memorial Prize and the Atkins Engineering scholarship. Her thesis project was conducted at Chalmers University (Sweden) under their Carbon Capture Research Unit. Her current research is focused on the field of pervaporation.
Rasmi is currently pursuing her Ph.D. at the Centre for Sustainable Technologies, IISc Bangalore. She completed her undergraduate degree in Civil Engineering from Vidya Academy of Science and Technology, Kerala, and earned her master’s in Environmental Engineering from Government Engineering College, Thrissur, Kerala. She was an active NSS volunteer in B.Tech. and won the Directorate level NSS Technical Cell top scorer award 2016-18. She has a passion for dancing and was an active participant in arts at school and college levels. At S3 lab, she is working on zero-waste discharge (ZWD) scheme for water remediation.
Akash Lima is from Rayagada, Odisha. He has graduated in Agricultural Engineering from Sam Higginbottom University of Agriculture, Technology and Sciences, Prayagraj. He earned his master’s degree in Farm Machinery and Power Engineering at Indira Gandhi Krishi Vishwavidyalaya, Raipur. He gained interest in separation technology from his master’s research where he segregated and collected cattle dung from difficult terrains. His current area of research focuses on the separation of polar aprotic solvents using pervaporation. He was awarded the National Talent Scholarship award by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, New Delhi during his master’s. He was also awarded the high school scholarship for academic excellence (ATOM-50 fellowship) by Adyant Educational & Charitable Trust, Bhubaneswar. Basketball, chess and weight training are his hobbies.
Abishek Jerold is a doctoral researcher at the Centre for Sustainable Technologies, IISc. He obtained his Master’s in Thermal Engineering from CEG, Anna University, Chennai, graduating as the Gold Medalist of his cohort. His Master’s thesis focused on sustainable solar air-conditioning systems, and he was selected as a co-author for GIZ-Proklima's study on the Green Cooling landscape in India. He received his undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering from A.C. Government College of Engineering and Technology, Karaikudi, Tamil Nadu, where he undertook a project-cum-internship at NIT, Trichy on Additive Manufacturing. At IISc, his Ph.D. research investigates pervaporation-based separation processes. Outside academics, Abishek enjoys music and cooking.
Soumyadeep Haldar is a researcher with an interdisciplinary educational background. His fundamental interest in chemistry earned him the prestigious KVPY fellowship, leading to his Bachelor of Science (Research) at IISc, Bengaluru, where he specialised in Earth and Environmental Sciences, sparking a new passion for Remote Sensing and GIS. He then pursued a Master of Technology in Urban Systems at IIT Bombay, where his focus on remote sensing was recognized with the Geographic Information Officer Flagship Fellowship. Now, he has returned to IISc to pursue his doctorate at the S3 Lab, investigating Sustainable Separation Solutions under Prof. Yagnaseni Roy. Outside the lab, he is a passionate photographer with a decade of experience.
Former Members
Manamohan was engaged as an IoE Postdoctoral Fellow in the Centre for Sustainable Technologies (CST), IISc Bangalore. He completed his PhD from the Department of Chemistry, NIT Rourkela in 2022. His area of expertise is the development of various functional nanohybrids and electrospun nanofibers for the removal of aquatic pollutants. Till now, he has contributed 9 research publications and 6 book chapters. His work at IISc was based on developing an environmentally benign biopolymer-based adsorbent for the remediation of aquatic arsenic.
Nikhil is a mechanical engineer and designer by training. He has developed solutions for improving the efficiency of hemodialysis and RO water purification. He holds three granted patents and has a publication to his name. His entrepreneurial journey has been funded by central and state government agencies, including the Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC). At S3 lab, he worked as a Senior Project Associate, focused on optimizing the extraction of phytochemicals from turmeric. Outside of work, he enjoys wondering about the intersections between science, business, philosophy, yoga, and spirituality.
Gopika worked as an IoE-IISc Postdoctoral Research Fellow working with the Sustainable Separation Solutions (S3) Lab at the Centre for Sustainable Technologies (CST), IISc. Her research interest is in membrane technology and sustainable process solutions. She began researching membrane technology involving non-aqueous applications while working as a research assistant at CSIR-Central Food Technological Research Institute, Mysuru, soon after graduation. Later, she pursued PhD (Direct) with the CSIR-GATE fellowship, wherein she applied organic solvent nanofiltration to valorise the by-product of curcumin manufacture. Following her PhD completion in 2023, she was briefly engaged as an Engineer/ Scientist (Level-C) with a work focus on Microdialysis at SCTIMST, Trivandrum. She has contributed to the field by publishing three high-impact journal articles, one book chapter and one patent (filed). Her training at the S3 lab focused on fouling modelling during organic solvent nanofiltration.
Subhash was an M.Tech student at the Centre for Sustainable Technologies in IISc Bangalore. He graduated from the Civil Engineering department at Nirma University, Ahmedabad. He also has experience in construction work, mainly in road and bridge construction. His work in this group involved the zero-waste discharge (ZWD) scheme for water remediation. Reading novels, playing volleyball, and cricket are some of his interests.