Dr Vijaya B Kolachalama Aerospace Engineering PhD, 2003
Postdoctoral associate at the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology
Hi, I'm Dr Vijaya B Kolachalama and I studied Aerospace Engineering PhD, 2003 within Engineering and the Environment at the University of Southampton.
Sport and recreational facilities are world-class at Southampton. Over the winter, I thoroughly enjoyed playing badminton and competed in the Winchester and District league.
I was really motivated to apply my engineering knowledge and skills to problems that are clinically relevant. The Computational Engineering and Design Research Group served as an ideal platform for performing multidisciplinary research.
I used computer-aided design, computational fluid dynamics and statistical tools, and gained fascinating mechanistic insights into arterial disorders. Research collaboration with the Department of Vascular Surgery at Southampton General Hospital also allowed me to realise the huge impact of biomedical research in the modern world. My advisors at Southampton transformed me from an aerospace engineer into a multidisciplinary researcher working in biomedical engineering.
Sport and recreational facilities are world-class at Southampton. Over the winter, I thoroughly enjoyed playing badminton and competed in the Winchester and District league. The English summer also brought the cricket season and I really enjoyed playing for the university, the Accies and other leagues in the neighbourhood.
I chose Southampton because of its academic reputation and because of the financial support offered to international students who are motivated to pursue postgraduate studies in the UK. I would strongly recommend graduate studies at Southampton, especially to anyone aspiring to work in a multidisciplinary field.
About Vijaya
Vijaya obtained an undergraduate degree in aerospace engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology before joining Southampton as a PhD student in 2003. His research was funded by Engineering Sciences. Currently, he works as a postdoctoral associate at the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology. He is 27.