Pranav given Chau Award for undergraduate research!

Pranav Kakhandiki, graduating senior working in the Disa Lab since 2022, has been given the Dorothy & Fred Chau Award from the School of Applied & Engineering Physics. Bestowed by the faculty of the department, the Chau Award recognizes an undergraduate student for “Excellence in Undergraduate Research in Engineering Physics.”

During his time in the Disa Lab, Pranav has working on a new machine-learning based method, called Machine-learning for Material Bragg-rod Analysis (or MAMBA), that aims to improve the determination of the atomic scale structure of thin films from x-ray measurements. Previously, he has used machine-learning models to analyze the characteristics of x-ray pulses produced by X-ray free electron lasers (XFEL). Pranav’s research may make it possible to watch how atoms move at the interface between two quantum materials when they are struck by a laser pulse. Pranav will be moving on to start his Ph.D. in Applied Physics at Stanford next fall. Congratulations Pranav, we’ll miss you!

To learn more about Pranav and his research, check out the spotlight in Cornell Engineering News.