Maanasa Bhat

Maanasa Bhat is a PhD candidate who is integrating interests in health, energy, and materials science to develop innovative new approaches to synthesis of nanomaterials. As a MathWorks Fellow, Maanasa is designing a flame-based synthesis process to manufacture nanomaterials for low-cost sensors and photocatalysts with a wide range of potential environmental and health applications. The goal of Maanasa’s work is to build a broader understanding of the physical and chemical mechanisms involved in the flame synthesis process. The aim is to strengthen connections between the input operating conditions and the composition and morphology of output products to achieve high controllability. MathWorks tools have been indispensable in this research. As her project progresses, Maanasa hopes to tailor the novel flame synthesis process she has developed for specific uses such as the detection of methane leaks, pollutant emissions in air, as well as breath diagnosis for hard-to-detect conditions such as endometriosis and fibroids.