Prof. Akanksha Menon

akanksha menonDr. Akanksha Menon is an Assistant Professor in the Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering at Georgia Tech, where she directs the Water-Energy Research Lab (WERL). Prior to this, she was a Rosenfeld Postdoctoral Fellow at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), where she continues to be a Research Affiliate. Dr. Menon also has as a Joint Faculty Appointment at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). Her research focuses on decarbonizing water treatment and energy (heat) by leveraging advances at the intersection of thermal engineering and materials science. Dr. Menon is a proud Yellow Jacket, having received her M.S. and Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Georgia Tech.

Dr. Menon is a recipient of the 2023 NSF CAREER Award, and the ASME – Pi Tau Sigma Gold Medal for her contributions to the field of mechanical engineering. In 2022, she was recognized as a DARPA Riser and was in the Class of 1969 Teaching Fellows cohort. She has also been featured by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) as part of their Woman @ Energy series. Dr. Menon is a proponent of science communication – she has participated in DOE’s Restore Our Earth panel as a climate scientist, featured on a podcast for the Peggy Smedley Show, and she has pitched her research at the Falling Walls: Emerging Talents and Berkeley Lab Research SLAM.

Email: akanksha.menon@me.gatech.edu