Education

• Doctor of Philosophy in Mechanical Engineering, Purdue University (2024)
• Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics, University of Nebraska-Lincoln (2020)
• Bachelor of Engineering in Mechanical Engineering, University of Mumbai (2018)

Work Experience

• Research Assistant Professor, University of Nebraska-Lincoln (2026-Present)
• Senior Mechanical Engineer, ASM America, Inc. (2025-2026)
• Graduate Research Assistant, Purdue University (2021-2024)
• Graduate Research Assistant, University of Nebraska-Lincoln (2018-2021)

Areas of Research Interest

• Advanced manufacturing of reactive materials: Powder bed fusion and directed energy deposition of difficult-to-print materials like WE43 and AZ91 magnesium alloys, with applications in lightweight aerospace and energy systems
• Multi-process manufacturing:  Innovation in manufacturing platforms that integrate additive, subtractive, and transformative processes to fabricate finished parts in a single stage
• Microstructure & residual stress engineering: Manufacturing-driven design of materials through spatial control of microstructure and residual stress to enable functionally graded materials
• Computational modeling of manufacturing processes:  Physics-informed analytical and numerical modeling to predict process-structure-property relationships in advanced manufacturing systems

Select Publications (Full list on Google Scholar)

• R. Karunakaran, G.H. Klein, M.P. Sealy, 2024, “Analytical modeling of residual stress formation in hybrid additive manufacturing,” CIRP Annals - Manufacturing Technology, 73(1), pp. 197-200 (link) 
• R. Karunakaran, L.D. Sotelo, H. Maharaja, S. Mishra, K.P. Karunakaran, J.A. Turner, M.P. Sealy*, 2023, “Increased ductility of Ti-6Al-4V by interlayer milling during directed energy deposition,” Additive Manufacturing, 78, pp. 103818 (link) 
• M.P. Sealy*, R. Karunakaran, S. Ortgies, G. Madireddy, A.P. Malshe, K.P. Rajurkar, 2021, “Reducing corrosion of additive manufactured magnesium alloys by interlayer ultrasonic peening,” CIRP Annals - Manufacturing Technology, 70(1), pp. 179-182 (link)