Dr. Jithin John Varghese
Associate Professor
Department of Chemical Engineering
Indian Institute of Technology Madras
EDUCATION
2012 - 2016
Nanyang Technological University Singapore
PhD (Chemical Engineering)
2004 - 2008
Sardar Vallabhbhai National Institute of Technology, Surat, India
B.Tech (Chemical Engineering)
WORK EXPERIENCE
January 2024 - present
Indian Institute of Technology Madras
Associate Professor
October 2018 - January 2024
Indian Institute of Technology Madras
Assistant Professor
The Team
Post-doctoral Fellows
Dr. Heera T Nair (Dec 2025 - )
Research: Theoretical investigation of selective CO2 hydrogenation to ethanol
Dr. Tamilmani Selvaraj (Dec 2024 - )
WISE-PDF
Research: Mechanistic investigation of formic acid decomposition over supported alloy catalysts for hydrogen production
Dr. N. Nagarjun (Dec 2023 - )
(Co-advised with Dr. P. Selvam)
Research: CO2 cycloaddition reaction using MOFs
Dr. Ajin R (Jan 2025 - )
Research : Computational investigation of CO2 hydrogenation to methanol using In2O3/ZrO2
PhD Student: July 2019 - Jan 2025
PhD topic: Selective C-O bond cleavage in biomass derived polyols
Mr. Sathya Sai Rengam (July 2019 - )
PhD topic: Liquid phase catalytic mild oxidation of methane to methanol on zeolite based catalysts
PhD Students
Ms. Athira K K (Aug 2020 - )
Prime Minister's Research Fellow
(Co-advised with Dr. P Selvam)
PhD topic: CO2 cycloaddition with epoxides on metal organic (MOF) framework based catalysts
Mrs. Parvathy S Chandran (Jul 2022 - ) Prime Minister's Research Fellow
PhD topic: Understanding and developing metal carbide and metal/metal oxide catalysts for oxidative dehydrogenation of light alkanes
Ms. Aaradhana Vishnu Thombre (July 2024 - )
PhD topic: Valorization of Polyols in terminal diols
Mr. Ashok Yacham (July 2021 - )
(Co-advised with Dr. Tarak Patra)
PhD topic: Selective CO2 capture using metal organic framework (MOF) based sorbents
M.Tech Students
Mr. Deep Pravinbhai Kotadia (July 2024 -
(Co-advised with Dr. Tarak Patra)
M.Tech Project topic: Catalytic depolymerization of polyolefins using DFT-ML
Ms. Sampurna Saha (Oct 2025 - )
(Co-advised with Dr. Niket S. Kaisare)
M.Tech Project topic: Kinetic modelling assessment for methanol synthesis from CO2
Mr. Manav (Oct 2025 - )
M.Tech Project topic:
B.Tech Students
Mr. Bharath Sajeev (Sep 2025 -
(Co-advised with Dr. Niket S. Kaisare)
B.Tech Project topic: Multi-objective optimization of CO2 conversion to methanol
Ms. Sukriti Choudhary (Aug 2025 - )
(Co-advised with Dr. Niket S. Kaisare)
B.Tech Project topic: Techno-economic aspects of CO2 reduction to methanol
Project Associate
Ms. Ansiya (October 2024 - )
(Co-advised with Dr. Niket S. Kaisare )
Topic: Integrated experimental and multiscale modelling to develop multifunctional and tandem catalyst for direct conversion of CO2
Alumni
Post-doctoral Fellows
Dr. Prabodh Ranjan
Faculty at Presidency University
Dr. Ramesh Gurram
IOCL R&D Centre
Dr. Tamilmani Selvaraj
WISE Post-doc, IIT Madras
PhD Students
Anoop Pushkar
Post-doc, IISc/Ola Electric
C D Balaji
Post-doc, NTU Singapore
Ajin Rajan
Post-doc, IIT Madras
MS Students
Ashwajeet Gajbhiye
Afcons Infrastructure Ltd.
Soham Roy
PharmaACE
M.Tech/DD Students
Sahithi Yamala
Faculty at Presidency University
Akshay R Nath
Mercedez Benz RDI
Jose Peter
Navin Flourine International Ltd.
Harishankar A R
Micron Technologies, Taiwan
Balaji Sriram
Chevron, Bangalore
Jamsheer K T
Guest faculty, TKM College
Vaibhav Patil
Walmart Centre, IIT Madras
B.Tech Students
Jugal Anil
Hindustan Unilever
Sundar Ram
PhD Student, Caltech
Sahil Halarnkar
PhD Student, Michigan Ann Arbor
Shashank Swaminathan
MS student, Carnegie Mellon
Rohit Kumar
Technip Energies
Jatin Pratap Singh
Phd student, IIT Delhi
Project Staff
Sai Teja Nekkanti
PhD student, Clemson University
Anju Patel
PhD student, IIT Bombay
Gouri Nayanar
PhD student, IIT Madras
Prerna
PhD student, University of Bayreuth & Melbourne
Gopika Nair
PhD student, Leibniz Institute of Catalysis