Students come to study at the Cullen College of Engineering for many reasons, but for Maruti Mudunuru, there was a specific reason — and a specific person — that caused him to choose the University of Houston.
“Dr. Kalyana Nakshatrala [Carl F. Gauss Professor and Associate Chair of Civil and Environmental Engineering] was the primary reason I moved to UH,” he said. “I knew I wanted to work under someone with a rigorous and foundational approach to computational mechanics.”
This proved to be a fruitful decision for Mudunuru, from multiple perspectives. After earning his B.Tech from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras (IIT-Madras) and his M.S. from Texas A&M University — College Station, he earned his doctorate with Nakshatrala.
He has authorship credits on 15 publications with Nakshatrala, and his dissertation was honored by Cullen professors as one of the year’s best in 2015 and earned the Robert J. Melosh Medal for best paper in finite element analysis and computational mechanics in 2016. The medal is co-sponsored by Elsevier and endorsed by International Association of Computational Mechanics.
However, Mudunuru stressed that coming to Houston provided him with more than his degree and academics.
“The campus culture was vibrant, the computational infrastructure was strong, and I liked the diverse student body,” he said. “It helped me grow not just as a researcher, but as a collaborator. UH had a very practical, get-it-done culture, with chances to collaborate across disciplines like engineering, mathematics and Earth sciences.”
Mudunuru is now an Earth scientist and a Team Lead within the Subsurface Science Group at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, where he specializes in artificial intelligence (AI), data integration, and multi-physics modeling for subsurface science.
“I build tools that help scientists and engineers make faster and smarter decisions about what’s happening in the subsurface, or deep underground,” he said. “These tools can help explore unconventional energy resources, geothermal energy, finding critical minerals or studying soils. Think of it like building a brain for the Earth using AI and simulations. I turn measurements and images into easy-to-use tools. That is, mixing physics and AI, so engineers and decision-makers can test ‘what-ifs’ on a virtual subsurface before touching the real one.”
Mudunuru stressed that he wouldn’t be at PNNL without the influence of Nakshatrala on his work and his thinking.
“UH research culture and Dr. Nakshatrala’s mentorship had a lasting impact on how I think about solving problems. Two things stand out,” he said. “First, the importance of mathematical rigor in modeling complex systems. It’s easy to rely on simulations, but he taught me to understand every assumption and make sure the math holds up.”
“Second, he emphasized clarity in communication, whether writing a paper or presenting research. I use both lessons daily in my current work, especially when integrating AI with physics-based simulations and communicating with project sponsors.”
Beyond UH, Mudunuru said he still used the fundamental knowledge and learning techniques he picked up along the way.
“Professors at UH, Texas A&M, and IIT-Madras really shaped my foundation,” he said. “After UH, I have been fortunate to work with phenomenal scientists and program managers at LANL, PNNL, and EMSL user facility, who believed in me and gave me opportunities to work on cutting-edge science problems. They helped me a lot at every stage of my career and pushed me to think more deeply about multidisciplinary research, data-driven modeling, and real-world applications in energy and mineral systems.”