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N. Kuthirummal (NK)

Education                 

PhD (physics), Banaras Hindu University.

MSc (physics with electronics), Cochin University of Science & Technology.

BSc (physics with math and chemistry), Calicut University.

Career

  • Associate Dean, School of Engineering, Computing, and Mathematics (SECM), June 2025 – present
  • Interim Dean, School of Engineering, Computing, and Mathematics (SECM), July 2024 – May 31, 2025
  • Interim Associate Dean, School of Sciences, Mathematics, and Engineering (SSME), ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø, January – June 2024.
  • Chair, Department of Physics and Astronomy, ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø, 2012 – 2022 (Two terms)
  • Founding Director, Engineering Program, ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø, 2019 – 2021
  • Coordinator, Energy Production Concentration Program, ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø, 2007 – 2022.
  • Professor, ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø, 2017 - present
  • Associate Professor, ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø, 2010 - 2017
  • Assistant Professor, ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø, 2004 - 2010
  • Postdoctoral Associate (chemical physics), Brown University, 2001 - 2004
  • Postdoctoral Fellow (chemical physics), Academia Sinica, Taiwan, 1995 - 2001
  • Postdoctoral Fellow (biomedical physics), CCMB, India, 1993 - 1995                          

Awards/Honors                  

  • Fulbright-Nehru Senior Scholar Award from the United States-India Educational Foundation (2022 September - 2023 January)
  • Norine Noonan Sustained Achievement Award of the School of Sciences and Mathematics, ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø, 2021.
  • Excellence in Collegiate Education and Leadership (ExCEL) Awards: Outstanding Faculty of the Year for the School of Sciences and Mathematics, ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø, 2020
  • Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society, 2012
  • Distinguished Teacher Award, ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø, 2010
  • Merit Scholarship for Outstanding Master of Science Students of the Cochin University of Science and Technology, 1984 - 1986
  • Kerala State Governor’s Nominee to the Academic Council of the Cochin University of Science and Technology, 1984 - 1986

Research Interests

  • Composite polymer materials for biomedical applications
  • Semiconducting and optical materials
  • 2D materials
  • Nondestructive evaluation (NDE) techniques

Major Funded Research Grants  

  • $50,000: SC EPSCoR: Expanding material science research capabilities with Raman microscope augmentation, ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø (Co-I, 2025 – 2026)
  • $300,000: SC EPSCoR collaborative grant: High Performance Li-S Batteries (Institutional PI, 2018 – 2020, Clemson/ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø)
  • $20,000,000: NSF/EPSCoR Track 1 MADE in SC RII collaborative grant (Institutional Director, 2017 – 2022; 10-institution collaboration)
  • $1,400,000: Howard Hughes Medical Institute Grant (Contributor, Biomedical Nanotechnology, 2012 - 2016)
  • $193,450: National Science Foundation (2006-2009, PI - Kuthirummal)

Recent Peer-reviewed Journal Articles        

  1. Cavity-assisted Coherent Phonon Generation and Control in a WSe2/Au structure, Brennan, Christian; Jo, Kiyoung; Wang, Chih-Feng; Joly, Alan; O'Callahan, Brian; Farias, William Edward; Bielicki, Alexander Donald; Teklu, Alem; Shi, Leilei; Zhang, Qian; Kuthirummal, Narayanan; Hu, Ming; Jin, Rongying; Gong, Yu, Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters (accepted, June 2025).
  2. Fabrication of reduced graphene oxide decorated with non-metal doped nanotitania: An efficient visible light driven photocatalyst and sterilizing agent for microbial cells, Shanavas Yoosuf, Narayanan Kuthirummal, and Shalina Begum, ACS Omega (Published, February 2025).
  3. Control of Coherent Phonon Dynamics in CoFeB/Heavy Metal Heterojunction Structures for Future Hybrid Phononic and Spintronic Devices, Ning Fang, Lei Wang, Nico Harris, Alem Teklu, Narayanan Kuthirummal, Christian Brennan, Noah Kern, Aeron McConnell, Dali Sun, Ziyao Zhou, Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics (Published, February 2024).
  4. Efficient Optical Control of Magnon Dynamics in van der Waals Ferromagnets, Y. Gong, Z. Yang, A. Teklu, T. Xie, N. Kern, A. F. May, M. McGuire, C. Brennan, E.-J. Guo, N. Kuthirummal, J. Cetin, Q. Zhang, M. Hu, and C. Gong, Ultrafast Science, 4, 0064 (2024).
  5. Experimental Analysis of the Elastic Moduli of Atomically Thin Transition Metal Dichalcogenides, Alem Teklu, Noah Kern, Narayanan Kuthirummal, Joe Tidwell, Maxwell Rabe, Yu Gong, Wenkai Zhang, and Luis Balicas, Journal of Physical Chemistry C128, 20333-20342 (2024).
  6. Strong Surface Enhanced Coherent Phonon Generation in van der Waals Materials, C. Brennan, J. Alan, C-F Wang, T. Xie, B. O'Callahan, K. Crampton, A. Teklu, L. Shi, M. Hu, Q. Zhang, N. Kuthirummal, H. Arachchige, A. Chaturvedi, H. Zhang, D. Mandrus, C. Gong, and Y. Gong, Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters, 15, 10442-10450 (2024).   
  7. A Facile Method for the Preparation of Non-Metal Doped Nanotitania Featuring Visible-Region Photocatalytic Performance, Shanavas Yoosuf, Rajeena Chennikkad, Raseen Nanakkal, Anju Rajan, Raghu Chatanathodi, Narayanan Kuthirummal, Shalina Begum, Materials Science & Engineering B, 294, 116497 (2023).
  8. Laser photoacoustic spectroscopy of iodine, bromine, and acetone molecules, S. N. Thakur, R.C. Sharma, and Narayanan Kuthirummal in Photoacoustic and Photoacoustic Spectroscopy-Principles and Applications (Edited by S.N. Thakur, V.N. Rai, and J.P.Singh), Elsevier (2023, book chapter).
  9. Significant Enhancement of Two-Photon Excited Fluorescence in Water-Soluble Triphenylamine-Based All-Organic Compounds, Y. Gong, Bi, N. Chen; M. Forconi, N. Kuthirummal, A.Teklu, B. Gao, J. Koenemann, N. Harris, C. Brennan, M. Thomas, T. Barnes, and M. Hu, J. Phys. Chem B, 126, 5513-5522 (2022).
  10. Strong Laser Polarization Control of Coherent Phonon Excitation in van der Waals material Fe3GeTe2, Gong, M. Hu, N. Harris, Z. Yang, T. Xie, A. Teklu, N. Kuthirummal, J. Koenemann, A. Admasu, and S.-W. Cheong, Nature Partner Journals (npj) 2D Materials and Applications, 6, 9 (2022). DOI: