Academic Credentials
  • Ph.D., Materials Science and Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 2017
  • B.S., Mechanical Engineering, Boston University, 2010
Licenses & Certifications
  • Professional Engineer Metallurgical, California, #2039
  • SOLIDWORKS Certificate in Mechanical Design
Professional Affiliations
  • American Welding Society (AWS) D10 Committee on Piping and Tubing:
  • AWS D10V Subcommittee on Tubular Steel Vehicle Structure
  • AWS D10 Committee on Piping and Tubing: AWS D10H Subcommittee on Aluminum Piping
  • AWS D8 Committee on Automotive Welding: AWS D8D Subcommittee on Automotive Resistance Spot Welding
  • International Organization for Standardization (ISO): ISO/TC 44/SC6, Resistance welding and allied mechanical joining

Dr. Nirankari's areas of expertise include failure analysis, metallurgy, fracture, welding, finite element modeling and materials characterization. He has conducted research and failure analysis of metals and welds involving both experimental and computational approaches. 

Dr. Nirankari has applied his expertise to a range of engineering fields, including automotive, aerospace, consumer electronics and utilities. He also has experience with mechanical testing techniques, fractography, metallurgical and microstructural analysis, non-destructive evaluation, microscopy and computational mechanics.

Dr. Nirankari has extensive experience performing mechanical testing as well as microstructural analysis via optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), electron backscattered diffraction (EBSD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS). He is also skilled in computed tomography (CT). His computational expertise lies in use of finite element modeling. He has extensive experience with commercial finite element software (Abaqus) and computer aided design software (SolidWorks).

During his graduate study at the University of Michigan, Dr. Nirankari's research included the use of mechanical testing to understand the crack initiation and small crack propagation behavior of aluminum spot welds and finite element modeling to predict the weld lifetime. As an undergraduate, Dr. Nirankari's research focused on improving the efficacy of plasma sprayed thermal barrier coatings for turbine blades.