Ram is an internationally recognized leader in the field of materials engineering. Over the past three decades, he has made major contributions in a range of scientific areas related to the deformation, fracture, and fatigue in several different classes of advanced materials, with the common themes developing a deep understanding of the microstructural development, effects of thermo-mechanical processing, mechanisms of mechanical deformation—over a range of length scales—fracture mechanics and physical metallurgy. Few of his accomplishments are highlighted below.
Metallic glasses exhibit attractive combinations of mechanical properties—particularly high strength and yield strains. Ram’s studies resulted in the elucidation of pressure sensitivity of plastic deformation, localization of flow into shear bands by using the bonded interface technique, embrittlement due to structural relaxation, and the mechanics and mechanisms of ductile and brittle fractures that led to the identification of the characteristic length scales that control the micromechanisms in BMGs and their composites. (cf. Acta Mater. 2007;55:4067)
Ram’s work on mechanical properties of pharmaceutical products, including effects of hydration, has been ground-breaking. Many such products are agglomerated powders, but they are rarely studied in terms of mechanics—despite the potential importance. Ram has used his expertise in fine scale mechanical testing—particularly nanoindentation—to obtain valuable insights and establish structure-property correlations in molecular crystals. (cf. Cur. Opinion in Solid State & Mat. Sci. 2016;20:361)
AM is an active area of research, given its importance in advanced manufacturing of metallic components. Ram has extensively investigated the structure-property correlations in AM alloys, with emphasis on fatigue and fracture related to structural integrity. He demonstrated as to how the multi-scale nature of the process-induced micro- and meso-structures can be exploited for designing strong, tough, and fatigue resistant alloy components. (cf Acta Mater. 2021;219:117240)
Metrics and Recognition
Ram has supervised ~70 PhD and Masters students, published 320+ journal papers that received ~20,000 citations (h-index of 71), has given over 100 invited plenary and keynote lectures, and is an editor of Acta Mater.—the premier materials engineering journal. He has been awarded over a dozen major prizes, notable ones being SS Bhatnagar and TWAS Prizes, both in the Engineering Sciences category. He is Fellow of INAE, INSA,[2] and TWAS.
Leadership and International Connectivity
Ram has also overseen a large number of high-value projects—majority of them being industry-sponsored. He is leading the current national Singaporean programme on structural metals & alloys. His highly collaborative character has fostered many international links and activities. He has held Visiting Professor positions at more than a dozen Universities and Research Centres. He has given (without payment) lecture courses in Nigeria, as part of a World Bank initiative to create institutions similar to the Indian IITs in Africa.
Awards and Honors
Awards
Ram has received numerous prestigious awards throughout his career, including:
Ram has been recognized for his significant contributions to science and engineering through election to prestigious fellowships in several distinguished academies:
