Sponsored Research Projects
VNIT’s sponsored research spans smart & sustainable infrastructure, renewable energy and EVs, advanced/functional materials, AI/ML & 6G/quantum communications, water & environmental systems, biomedical engineering, mining & critical minerals, manufacturing & robotics, and fundamental sciences (physics/mathematics). Projects are supported by ANRF, DST (TIH/FIST/CEST/AMT/STARS), DRDO (ARDE/ARMREB/ER&IPR/DIPAS/CVRDE), ISRO, DoT (TTDF), CSIR, ICMR, NBHM-DAE, UGC-DAE CSR, Ministry of Mines, Ministry of Jal Shakti, MoHUA–CPHEEO, DSIR, Royal Society (UK), INSA, and industry partners.
List of Sanctioned Research Projects
| Sr. No. | Name of the PI | Department | Title for the Project | Funding Agency | Date of Sanction |
| 1 | Dr. Meera Dhabu Dr. Ashish Tiwari | Computer Science & Engineering | Development of a Structured Image and Video Dataset for AI-Based Defect Detection in Dragline Cranes at Indian Mining Sites | TEXMiN, VNIT Nagpur | 30-Mar-2026 |
| 2 | Dr. Ankit A. Bhurane | Electronics & Communication | AI-Enabled Adaptive Wireless Cyber-Physical System for Autonomous Navigation in Underground Mines | TEXMiN, VNIT Nagpur | 01-Mar-2026 |
| 3 | Dr. Avinash Vasudeo | Civil Engineering | R & D Framework for Groundwater Ingress Control and Performance Enhancement of the Rashtrapati Bhavan Museum Basement | NBCC, New Delhi | 24-Feb-2026 |
| 4 | Dr. Manmohan Dass Goel | Applied Mechanics | Development of lightweight material for the components of armament systems | ARMREB (DRDO) | 30-Jan-2026 |
| 5 | Dr. Ramsha Karampuri | Electrical Engineering | An Intelligent and Cost-Effective Solar PV Pumping System with Open-End Stator Wound Permanent Magnet Motor (i-Solar PMM-PUMP) | RGSTC, Government of Maharashtra | 01-Jan-2026 |
| 6 | Dr. Kailas Wasewar | Chemical Engineering | Recovery of sulplus free Nicked from Pharmacutical spent catalyst sludge to achieve zero waste | Ministry of Mines | 16-Dec-2025 |
| 7 | Dr. Rahul Tarodiya | Mechanical Engineering | Design and Development of a Centrifugal Pump for Dense S Trasporation of Minerals and Ores | Ministry of Mines | 09-Dec-2025 |
| 8 | Dr. Anil Kumar | Metallurgical & Materials Engineering | Development of eco-friendly orange peel-reinforced chitosal-algonate based composite films for sustainable food-packing and preservation applications | RGSTC, Government of Maharashtra | 09-Dec-2025 |
| 9 | Dr. Prabhat Sharma (Co-PI) | Electronics & Communication | Zero-Power, Wirelessly Controlled Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces for Next-Generation Smart Networks | ANRF-ARG | 01-Dec-2025 |
| 10 | Dr. Mohan Kumar Mallick | Department of Mathematics | Shape Optimization of Principal Eigenvalue for Fully Nonlinear Operators: Theoretical and Geometric Advances on Pólya-Type Problems | ANRF-ARG Matrix | 01-Dec-2025 |
| 11 | Dr. Mohd Alam (Co-PI) | Electrical Engineering | Smart Hydrogen Energy Recovery System Using Metal Hydride Thermochemical Storage for Integrated Heating and Cooling | ANRF-ARG | 01-Dec-2025 |
| 12 | Dr. Ramsha Karampuri | Electrical Engineering | Retrofitting of Existing IC Engine Based Pick-Up Truck to Battery Electric Vehicle | MeitY-MHI Electric Vehicle Sub System (EVSS) Programme | 01-Dec-2025 |
| 13 | Dr. Ritesh Kumar Keshri | Electrical Engineering | Development of 15kW Wireless Charger and 40 kW Modular Wireless Charger for an Electric Vehicle | MEITY-MHI | 01-Dec-2025 |
| 14 | Dr. Arvind Kumar | Electronics & Communication | Sensor Antenna Transmitter System for Material Properties Retrieval in Wireless Sensor Nodes | DRDO-ERIPR | 11-Nov-2025 |
| 15 | Dr. Nikhil Deep Gupta | Centre for VLSI & Nanotechnology | Design and Optimization of a Photonic Sensor for the Dete Microplastics for Treatment of Water | DST, Govt. of India and Govt. of USA collaboratively spo India-US Science and Technology Forum | 10-Nov-2025 |
| 16 | Dr. Neeraj Rao | Electronics & Communication | Design and Fabrication of Cavity Based Sensor for Non Destructive Evaluation of Composite Structures | DRDO Advanced Systems Laboratory CARS Project | 24-Sep-2025 |
| 17 | Dr. Ganesh Patil | Centre for VLSI & Nanotechnology | IoT based Soil Parameter Tester for Subhash Palekar natural Multicoping farming | TIH Foundation for IoT & IoE | 22-Sep-2025 |
| 18 | Dr. Purnima Satapathy | Department of Mathematics | Insights into nonlocal symmetries and exact solution for nonlinear partial differential equations describing physical models | NBHM, DAE, Gov. of India | 21-Aug-2025 |
| 19 | Dr. Amrut Agasti | Metallurgical & Materials Engineering | Design and Development of AI alloy anode material and a prototype AI air battery | Ministry of Mines | 11-Aug-2025 |
| 20 | Dr. Jyoti Singh | Department of Mathematics | A study of F-singularity classes and their invariants using positive characteristic methods and differential operators | NBHM,DAE | 05-Aug-2025 |
| 21 | Dr. Kalyani Kale | Humanities & Social Sciences | A Critical Commentary on Sanskrit Vangmaya Kosha through the Prizm of IKS and Illustrating IKS Importance for Marathi Literature | DR Babasaheb Ambedkar Technological University, Lonere, IKS | 01-Aug-2025 |
| 22 | Dr. Jawaharlal Bhukya | Electrical Engineering | Optimization and Development of Microcube Wind Power Syste Sustainable Low-Wind-Speed Applications in Decentralized Res and Off-Grid Energy Use | ANRF-IRG | 29-Jul-2025 |
| 23 | Dr. Makarand Ballal | Electrical Engineering | Electric Power Theft Detection and Prevention Schemes for LT | Industry-Sponsored Tesla | 25-Jul-2025 |
| 24 | Dr. Pradyumn Chaturvedi | Electrical Engineering | Development of High- Power Grid- Friendly Conductive and Static Wirel Charges for Elecric Vehicles | ANRF-MAHA : EV-Mission | 25-Jul-2025 |
| 25 | Dr. Suvidha Gupta (Inspire Faculty) | Chemical Engineering | Valorization of Agro-Industrial Wastewater: Innovative Approaches for Bio-Malic Acid Production and Effective Wastewater Treatment | VIGYAN DHARA DST Scheme | 17-Jul-2025 |
| 26 | Dr. Ajinkya Baxy | Mechanical Engineering | Design, Development, and Optimization of Triply Periodic Minimal Surface-Based Customized Insoles for Diabetic Foot Care. | ANRF-PMECRGS | 15-Jul-2025 |
| 27 | Dr. Narendrababu A | Electrical Engineering | Sustainable Learning Environments Design of an Off-Grid Distributed Energy System Integrating an Intelligent Water Management Pump in the Eruvapalem Village School Premises | DST-CEST-CERI | 15-Jul-2025 |
| 28 | Dr. Sayandip Ghosh | Department of Physics | Topology in heritage : Influence and manifestation of electron topology in bosons. | ANRF – PMECRGS | 03-Jun-2025 |
| 29 | Dr. Manmohan Dass Goel | Applied Mechanics | Hypervelocity Impact Modelling on Aluminum Foam Sandwich Panel | ISRO- Respond Basket | 01-May-2025 |
| 30 | Dr. Rajashree Kotharkar | Architecture & Planning | Developing heat mitigation strategies using machine learning based predictive models | Department of Science and Technology (CEST) | 20-Apr-2025 |
| 31 | Dr. Sachin A Mandavgane | Chemical Engineering | Center of Excellence : A Center for Technology D4 :Design, Development, Demonstration and Deployment in area of F5 : Food, Feed, Fodder, Fuel and Fertiliser | DST (Technology, Translation and Innovation Division) | 01-Apr-2025 |
| 32 | Dr. Soumyabrata Das | Electrical Engineering | Real Time Water Quality Monitoring Using UAV Technology and Image Processing | NMICPS TiHAN Foundation, IIT Hyderabad | 04-Mar-2025 |
| 33 | Dr. Manish Kurhekar | Computer Science & Engineering | Predictive Maintenance of CNC Machines | Ordinance Factory, Ambazari | 04-Mar-2025 |
| 34 | Dr. Anupam Anant Kher | Mining Engineering | Development of Wireless High Voltage Non-Explosive Initiator for Non-Electric Detonator (NONEL) | TEXMiN FOUNDATION IIT (ISM) Dhanbad | 01-Mar-2025 |
| 35 | Dr. Sachin Mandavgane | Chemical Engineering | SuER : SustainaWlity Environment and Risk – Course activities and capacity building | KELTECH ENERGIES LIMITED | 01-Mar-2025 |
| 36 | Dr. Anupam Anant Kher | Mining Engineering | TEXMiN MINING CYBER PHYSICAL SYSTEMS CENTER OF EXCELLENCE | TEXMiN Foundation IIT ISM DHANBAD (DST TIH) | 01-Mar-2025 |
| 37 | Dr. Prabhat Sharma | Electronics & Communication | RIS Assisted Integrated Sensing and Communication for 6G Network | Department of Telecommunication, TTDF scheme | 01-Mar-2025 |
| 38 | Dr. Deep Gupta | Electronics & Communication | Development of an indigenous AI-assisted computer aided system for automated detection and grading of colorectal cancer severity using H and E-stained histopathological imaging | ICMR (IIRPSG) | 01-Mar-2025 |
| 39 | Dr. Suresh Kumar Thappeta | Civil Engineering | Urban flood Resilience Index for Urban Areas | Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs CPHEEO | 01-Mar-2025 |
| 40 | Punitkumar Bhavsar | Electronics & Communication | BB84 Protocol Simulation Toolbox Development for Secured Quantum Communication in 6G Networks | Department of Telecommunication | 01-Mar-2025 |
| 41 | Dr. Nikhil Deep Gupta | Centre for VLSI & Nanotechnology | Next Generation Nanophotonic Solar Photovoltaic Devices | The Royal Society, UK, International Exchanges 2024 | 01-Mar-2025 |
| 42 | Dr. Dhananjay A. Jolhe | Mechanical Engineering | Ergonomic Improvement of the Seating Arrangements for Loader, Layer and Driver in Artillery gun: ATAGS | ARMREB (DRDO) | 01-Feb-2025 |
| 43 | Dr. Kumari Nidhi Lal | Computer Science & Engineering | Intelligent Detection and Mitigation of Cyber Attacks in Information-Centric Networking (ICN) | ANRF- Prime Minister Early Career Research Grant | 01-Feb-2025 |
| 44 | Dr. N Anvesh Reddy | Mechanical Engineering | Investigation of Flow-Induced Vibration in Deep Sea Mining Pipes | IIT Guwahati (TIDF) | 29-Jan-2025 |
| 45 | Dr. Y. B. Katpatal | Civil Engineering | Investigating the Linkages Among Land Subsidence, Hydrological, Anthropogenic and Other Contributing Factors in Joshimath | Ministry of Jal Shakti, Government of India | 01-Jan-2025 |
| 46 | Dr. Arvind Kumar | Electronics & Communication | Electromagnetic Knee Imaging System | MeitY, Young Faculty Research Fellowship (YFRF) | 01-Jan-2025 |
| 47 | Dr. Nikhil Deep Gupta (Coordiantor) | Centre for VLSI & Nanotechnology | Development of the clean room facility with glove box for the semiconductor devices design, fabrication and characterization | DST-FIST | 01-Dec-2024 |
| 48 | Dr. Arvind Kumar & Dr. Praveen Pawar (Coordinators) | Electronics & Communication | FIST 2024 (VNA 40 GHz to 90GHz) to strengthen research facility | DST-FIST | 01-Dec-2024 |
| 49 | Dr. Ratnesh Kumar | Applied Mechanics | Comprehensive Assessment of Twin Test Facility Building Considering Variation in Geometry & Material Parameters | DRDO (GTRE) | 01-Nov-2024 |
| 50 | Dr. Vasu Pulijala | Centre for VLSI & Nanotechnology | Design of a portable EPR spectrometer by using a completely on-chip electron paramagnetic resonance sensor and COTS for detection of paramagnetic biomarkers such as hemozoin | DST-AMT | 01-Nov-2024 |
| 51 | Dr. Shrabony Adhikary | Civil Engineering | Assessment of Local Site Effects Specific to State of Punjab: A Prerequisite for Seismic Risk Reduction | Punjab State and funded by State Disaster Mitigation Fund (SDMF) | 01-Nov-2024 |
| 52 | Dr. Prabhat Sharma | Electronics & Communication | DoT 5G Lab | DoT, GoI | 01-Nov-2024 |
| 53 | Dr. Pallavi Mahale | Department of Mathematics | Study of simplified form of two-point iterative gradient methods for regularization of nonlinear ill-posed operator equations | DST-SERB (CRG) | 01-Oct-2024 |
| 54 | Dr.Punitkumar Bhavsar (Co-PI) | Electronics & Communication | Development of Multi-reference Active Noise Cancellation and Bone Conduction Headset for Clearer Communication Under an Extremely Noisy Environment of Flight Operation | DRDO-DIPAS | 01-Sep-2024 |
| 55 | Dr. Punitkumar Bhavsar | Electronics & Communication | Design and development of tree counting and geo-tagging system using drone for environment monitoring | Department of Scientific and Industrial Research | 01-Aug-2024 |
| 56 | Dr. Rajesh Khatirkar | Metallurgical & Materials Engineering | UTILISATION OF ALUMINIUM DROSS IN SYNTHETIC SLAG PREPARATION FOR SECONDARY STEEL MAKING | Ministry of Mines | 01-Jul-2024 |
| 57 | Dr. S. M. Giripunje | Department of Physics | Development of High Energy/High Power Density Asymmetric Supercapacitor using Electrospun 1D Metal Pyrophosphate Mesoporous Nanofibers | ANRF (SERB) | 01-Jun-2024 |
| 58 | Dr. Arpita Saha | Civil Engineering | Pedestrian Safety at Signalized Intersection Crosswalks Under Left Hand Driving Conditions | CSIR, ASPIRE Grant | 01-Jun-2024 |
| 59 | Dr. Shital Sudhakar Chiddarwar | Mechanical Engineering | Real-Time Seam Tracking and Control for Intelligent Welding Robots Using Computer Vision in Industrial 4 Scenario | CSIR -ASPIRE project (Scheme No. 1827) | 01-Jun-2024 |
| 60 | Dr. Sachin Mandavgane (Project Mentor) | Chemical Engineering | Sequencial bioprocessing of flower waste for high value products : a biorefinery approach | DST (SEED) | 01-Jun-2024 |
| 61 | Dr. Sachin Mandavgane (Project Mentor) | Chemical Engineering | Development of millets biorefinery sequential production of plant-based protein, modified starches, and dietary fibers. | DST (SEED) | 01-Jun-2024 |
| 62 | Dr. Sachin Mandavgane | Chemical Engineering | Millet biorefinry for Food, Feed, Fodder, Fertilizer and Fuel: Design to Demonstration | DST (SHRI) | 01-May-2024 |
| 63 | Dr. Abhijit D. Lade (Coordinator) | Civil Engineering | Development of Experimental Facilities for Research on Current Hydraulic and Morphological Problems in Indian Rivers | Department of Science and Technology (DST) FIST Scheme | 01-May-2024 |
| 64 | Dr. Nikhil Deep Gupta | Centre for VLSI & Nanotechnology | Design and Development of Group-III nitride based LEDs for UV-Blue region for underwater communication | DST INAE and NSTC, Taiwan | 01-May-2024 |
| 65 | Dr. Mohd Alam | Electrical Engineering | Development of Renewable Energy Based Onsite Oxygen cum Green Hydrogen Generation System: A Self-sufficient Approach for Indian Hospitals | Anusandhan National Research Foundation (SERB), Core-Research Grant | 01-May-2024 |
| 66 | Dr. Ashwinkumar S. Dhoble | Mechanical Engineering | Design and development of a heat pipe-based cooling system for lithium-ion used in electric vehicles. | DST-SERB (CRG) | 01-May-2024 |
| 67 | Dr. Poorva Singh | Department of Physics | Modelling and simulation of plasma-catalytic processes for energy and environmental applications | CSIR HRDG EMR II | 01-Apr-2024 |
| 68 | Dr. Mangesh Madurwar | Civil Engineering | Examining Factors Contributing To Accelerated Building Deterioration in the National Capital Region: A Case Study of Khekara Township | M/s NBCC India Limited | 31-Mar-2024 |
| 69 | Dr. Mangesh Madurwar | Civil Engineering | Quantifying Vulnerability, Empowering Solutions : An Optimizing Retrofitting Strategies and Its Implementation | M/s NBCC India Limited | 31-Mar-2024 |
| 70 | Dr. Mangesh Madurwar | Civil Engineering | Combating Early Stage Rebar Corrossion: A Novel Reinforcement Inhibitor Coating Approach | HSCC (India) Ltd. | 27-Mar-2024 |
| 71 | Dr. Rahul Biswas | Applied Mechanics | Assessment of durability properties of UHPFRC and application of integrated metaheuristic algorithm with Artificial Neural Network for predicting the properties | SERB-EEQ | 01-Feb-2024 |
| 72 | Dr. Sourav Pradhan | Department of Mathematics | Analysis of vacation queues with batch-size-dependent service, N-policy and applications to group screening of blood samples | SERB (MATRICS Scheme) | 01-Feb-2024 |
| 73 | Dr. Chayan Das | Department of Chemistry | Design and development of novel vitrimer like materials with smart features | DRDO, Ministry of Defence | 01-Jan-2024 |
| 74 | Dr. Prabhat Sharma | Electronics & Communication | Design Analysis and Testbed Development for Molecular Communication Systems | ANRF SERB | 01-Jan-2024 |
| 75 | Dr. Babasaheb R Sankapal | Department of Physics | Device grade flexible solid-state supercapacitor for flexible electronic applications using conducting polymer, MXene and rGO fibres | DST-SERB (CRG) | 01-Jan-2024 |
| 76 | Dr. Abhinav Arya | Metallurgical & Materials Engineering | Development of a two-stage e-waste segregation system using transfer learning | Ministry of Mines | 27-Dec-2023 |
| 77 | Dr. R V Ralegaonkar | Civil Engineering | Coal mine overburden alkali activated composites (CMOAAC) for prefabricated 3D volumetric construction elements and system thereof (3DVCES) | CMPDI | 12-Dec-2023 |
| 78 | Dr. Pradnya Ghare | Electronics & Communication | Development of an EEG based Imagined Speech recognition system for augmentation of patient care communication | ANRF-SERB POWER | 04-Dec-2023 |
| 79 | Dr. Susanta Kumar Nayak | Department of Chemistry | Design, Synthesis and Computational Analysis of Supramolecular Halogen Bonded Bent-core Azo-benzene Liquid Crystalline Systems for Photo-Responsive Property Study | Ministry of Education: under STARS-2 program in the Chemical Sciences | 01-Nov-2023 |
| 80 | Dr. Abhijit D Lade | Civil Engineering | Experimental Study on Hydrodynamics and Transport of Microplastic-Sediment Mix in Rivers | Department of Science and Technology (DST) SERB Startup Research Grant (SRG) | 01-Nov-2023 |
| 81 | Dr. Sachin Mandavgane | Chemical Engineering | Valorization of post-harvest agro waste (with C/N>50) using indigenous fibrinolytic enzymes | Sree Padmavati Venkateswara Foundation | 01-Oct-2023 |
| 82 | Dr. Chayan Das | Department of Chemistry | Development of multifunctional and recyclable elastomeric materials via dynamic crosslinking network | Ministry of Education (STARS-2) | 01-Sep-2023 |
| 83 | Dr. Arghya Mitra | Electrical Engineering | SPARC project titled “Global Grid: The Future of Earth” | Ministry of Education, Govt. of India | 28-Jul-2023 |
| 84 | Dr. Nikhil Deep Gupta | Centre for VLSI & Nanotechnology | Solar-driven self-biased Bio-photoelectrochemical cells for waste water treatment and hydrogen generation | CSIR EMR II | 07-July-2023 |
| 85 | Dr. Atul R. Ballal | Metallurgical & Materials Engineering | Evaluation of Low Cycle fatigue (LCF) and creep-fatigue Intercation (CFI) properties of Indigenous Alloy 617M | Board of Research in Nuclear Sciences (BRNS) Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) | 01-Jun-2023 |
| 86 | Dr. Sachin Mandavgane | Chemical Engineering | Valorization of organic waste by bio-refinery approach to products – reg. | Merino Industries Ltd. | 01-Apr-2023 |
| 87 | Dr. Pradip Roul | Department of Mathematics | Robust graded and adaptive mesh techniques for fractional convection-reaction-diffusion model in higher dimensions. | NBHM | 01-Mar-2023 |
| 88 | Dr. Poorva Singh | Department of Physics | DFT investigations on magnetic topological insulators and topological semi metals. | SERB (CRG) | 01-Mar-2023 |
| 89 | Dr. Prasad Kane | Mechanical Engineering | Investigation of Design Modification of Switched Reluctance Motor to reduce vibration and noise in Electric Vehicle | SERB (CRG) | 27-Feb-2023 |
| 90 | Dr. Manmohan Goel | Applied Mechanics | Indigenous Design and Development of Test Device for Testing of Glass Facade Against Wind Borne Debris | DST-SERB | 21-Feb-2023 |
| 91 | Dr. Sonal Dhanvijay | Applied Mechanics | Real Time Hybrid Simulation using Shake Table System | SERB – EMEQ | 13-Feb-2023 |