University of Nevada – Reno, a Tier 1 University, honored the achievements of the three Indian-American scholars during the ‘Honor the Best’ ceremony held at the UNR campus.

Sesh Commuri was bestowed with the Foundation Established Innovator Award. Dr. Commuri is a professor of electrical and biomedical engineering. Before joining the University in January 2016, he worked at the University of Oklahoma in Norman, OK, where he was the Gerald Tuma Presidential Professor in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

Revanth Konda was honored with an Outstanding Graduate Student Researcher – As per Revanth’s profile, as posted on the UNR site, Revanth is a Ph.D. student in Mechanical Engineering at UNR. He received his BS degree in Mechatronics from Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, India, in 2016 and his MS degree in Mechanical Engineering from Northern Illinois University in 2018, respectively. His research interests include robotics, mechatronics, non-linear control, and artificial intelligence. He is particularly interested in evaluating the use of AI to control highly non-linear systems such as robotic arms and exoskeletons, which are realized using artificial muscles.

Ashish Kasar was given Sam Lieberman Regents’ Award for Scholarship (Graduate) – As per the UNR website, Ashish Kasar is a Ph.D. candidate in Mechanical Engineering where his research focuses on self-lubricating composite materials, as well as wear and tribo-corrosion of additively manufactured alloys. His work on self-lubricating composite materials is connected to research he and his graduate adviser, Mechanical Engineering Associate Professor Pradeep Menezes, conducted for NASA. They investigated solid lubricants added into a ceramic composite material used in devices that come into contact with each other. The benefits of self-lubricating composites can include reduced damage to materials due to friction.