PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Gandham Phanikumar

Gandham Phanikumar is a professor at IIT Madras whose research applies machine learning and computation to alloys and manufacturing. He earned a B.Tech in Metallurgical Engineering at IIT Madras, completed a doctorate at the Indian Institute of Science, and joined the IIT Madras faculty after postdoctoral research in Germany. His work includes machine-learning models for high-entropy alloys, phase-field software for material transformations, and computational models of alloy solidification under convection; he received the 2019 Metallurgist of the Year award from the Ministry of Steel and Mines. As of October 2026, he is an Affiliate Faculty member at RBCDSAI and collaborates on machine-learning research for alloy design.

Badges

Timeline

  1. 1996–2002

    A degree and a laser PhD

    He earns a B.Tech in Metallurgical Engineering at IIT Madras in 1996 and completes a PhD at the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore in 2002 on experimental and computational laser processing of dissimilar metals.

  2. 2002–2005

    Postdoctoral research in Cologne

    He works as a postdoctoral fellow at the German Aerospace Centre in Cologne from 2002 to 2005, with a fellowship from BMBF and AvH Foundation.

  3. Since 2005

    Faculty at IIT Madras

    He joins the faculty of IIT Madras's Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering in 2005. His research spans integrated computational materials engineering, solidification, welding and additive manufacturing.

  4. 2019

    A Metallurgist of the Year award

    He receives the Metallurgist of the Year award from the Ministry of Steel and Mines in 2019.

  5. 2023

    Machine learning for alloy processing

    In 2023, he coauthors a paper that uses machine-learning models to predict flow behavior in a high-entropy alloy and produce its processing map.

  6. 2024

    MICROSIM phase-field software

    In 2024, he coauthors the MICROSIM preprint, which presents open-source phase-field software for simulating multiphase and multicomponent transformations with CPU and GPU solvers.

  7. August 2026

    A model for alloy solidification

    In August 2026, he coauthors a Grand-Potential phase-field and lattice-Boltzmann framework that simulates convection-driven solidification in alloys.

  8. As of October 2026

    Professor at IIT Madras

    He is a Professor in IIT Madras's Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering and an Affiliate Faculty member at RBCDSAI. He collaborates on an ongoing IITM–Deakin PhD project, Advanced alloy design using machine learning, that applies machine learning and natural language processing to metallic alloy design.

Career

  1. Since 2005IIT MadrasProfessor
  2. 2002–2005German Aerospace CenterPostdoctoral Fellow

Education

  1. 2002Indian Institute of SciencePhD
  2. 1996IIT MadrasB.Tech in Metallurgical Engineering

From the biography.

  1. The United States employs an estimated 48% of people shaping AIIncludes IIT Madras. We estimate where the people shaping AI work today, how universities, companies and research institutes split across countries, and how country shares have changed since the 1960s.
  2. More people shaping AI studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology than at any other institutionIncludes IIT Madras. We estimate where the people shaping AI studied and where their careers led. Massachusetts Institute of Technology leads with 467 former students, including 291 recorded doctorates.
  3. The company share of AI researchers’ top papers was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974Includes IIT Madras. We estimate where the people shaping AI worked when their most-cited papers appeared: the company share was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974, and Google led all organizations in 2020–2024.
  4. Google has the highest combined h-index among AI organizationsIncludes IIT Madras. We estimate that Google holds the highest combined h-index at 8,016, while universities account for 73% of the deduplicated total across AI organizations.

Colleagues

People with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

Photo: We have no published photo of Gandham Phanikumar yet. Send us a free-licensed photo.

  1. Gandham Phanikumar | Wadhwani School of Data Science and Artificial Intelligence wsai.iitm.ac.in. Checked 21 October 2026.
  2. NSM HPC Research Week cse.iitm.ac.in. Checked 21 October 2026.
  3. Publications | Website of Gandham Phanikumar gphanikumar.github.io. Checked 21 October 2026.
  4. MICROSIM: A high performance phase-field solver based on CPU and GPU implementations arxiv.org. Checked 21 October 2026.
  5. A novel Grand-Potential Phase-Field Lattice-Boltzmann model for multi-phase solidification with convection arxiv.org. Checked 21 October 2026.
  6. Advanced alloy design using machine learning ge.iitm.ac.in. Checked 21 October 2026.