Kripa K Varanasi

Background and Experience

Kripa K. Varanasi is a Professor of Mechanical Engineering at MIT. He received his B.Tech from IIT Madras, India and his SM (ME and EECS) and Ph.D from MIT. Prior to joining MIT as a faculty member, Prof. Varanasi was a lead researcher and project leader at the GE Global Research Center. At GE he received many awards for his work including Best Patent, Best Technology Project and Leadership Award. At MIT, the focus of his work is in understanding the physico-chemical phenomena at interfaces and developing novel materials, devices, and products that can dramatically enhance performance in energy, water, agriculture, transportation, medical, and consumer devices. He is passionate about entrepreneurship and translating technologies from lab to market.

Awards and Honors

• Co-Founded Companies - LiquiGlide, Dropwise, Infinite Cooling, and Everon24
• Named to Time Magazine’s “Best Inventions of the Year”
• Named to Forbes Magazine’s “Best Inventions of the Year”
• First Prize at DOE’s National Cleantech University Prize
• First Prize at Rice Business Plan Competition
• First Prize at Harvard Business School Energy & Environment Start-up Competition
• First Prize at MIT-100K Competition
• First Prize at MassChallenge
• NSF Career Award
• DARPA Young Faculty Award
• SME Outstanding Young Manufacturing Engineer Award
• ASME Bergles-Rohsenow Heat Transfer Award
• Boston Business Journal’s 40 Under 40
• ASME Gustus L. Larson Memorial Award (Outstanding Achievements in Mechanical Engineering)
• APS Milton van Dyke Award
• MIT Graduate Student Council’s Frank E. Perkins Award (Excellence in Graduate Advising)