Prof. Mahesh Panchagnula, is an alumnus of IIT Madras (B. Tech.), and completed his higher studies (M.S. and Ph.D.) in Mechanical Eng. from Purdue University. He is a Faculty In-Charge and Director of IITM Incubation Cell and has been in teaching and research for over 20 years. He served as Associate Professor, Assistant Professor at Tennessee Technological University from August 2005 to July 2010. Prior to joining Tennessee Tech, he gained holistic research experience in Lehigh University. Also, he served as a General Manager of Excel India since August 2002 until March 2004 and as a senior research engineer with Goodrich Aerospace.