Education

• PhD, Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Tech, 2018
• MS, Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Tech, 2015
• BS, Texas A&M University at Qatar, 2013

Background

Dr. Akanksha Menon is an Assistant Professor in the Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering at Georgia Tech. Prior to this, she was a Rosenfeld Postdoctoral Fellow at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, where she performed research on hybrid membrane-thermal desalination processes using solar energy, and she also contributed to the development of thermal energy storage materials. Dr. Menon completed her Ph.D. at Georgia Tech, where she focused on developing semiconducting polymers and new device architectures for thermoelectric energy harvesting. She holds a bachelor's degree from Texas A&M University at Qatar, as well as a master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Georgia Tech.

Her research group at Georgia Tech is working on technologies for the water-energy nexus.

Research

• Heat transfer and energy systems
• Micro and nano engineering
• Solar/thermal desalination and zero liquid discharge
• Thermal/thermochemical energy storage
• Waste heat recovery/energy harvesting
• Functional materials

Dr. Menon’s research focuses on applying thermal science and functional materials to develop sustainable energy and water technologies. Novel system concepts that help mitigate the effects of climate change and promote decarbonization, including solar desalination (hybrid membrane-thermal processes), energy storage (thermal and thermochemical), energy-efficient buildings, and heat recovery (thermoelectrics) are of particular interest. The research aims to provide a fundamental understanding of the thermodynamic properties and transport processes in functional materials such as polymers, ionic liquids and salt hydrates applied to the aforementioned systems.