Tanuj Kumar

I was born and grew up in India, where I did my undergraduate studies at BITS, Pilani in electrical engineering and chemistry. After spending about a year each at Tufts and the Indian Institute of Science, I started my Ph.D. in electrical and computer engineering at UW-Madison, where I work in optics and photonics. My current areas of research include low-loss materials, thermal radiation, and VO2 as a phase change material.

When I’m not doing research, I work on photography and music. I am primarily a drummer since my school years but am slowly gravitating towards non-percussion instruments as well. My interest in photography is a more recent one, inspired by the use of dark backgrounds and color grading that have stood out to me in many movies, but enabled by the many photo-worthy places that Madison has to offer.