I'm Lalit Patidar, a research engineer, scientist, builder, and lifelong learner. My core professional work sits at the intersection of combustion, propulsion, reacting-flow physics, chemical kinetics, and system simulation. I care deeply about first principles, rigorous modeling, clear thinking, and the challenge of turning complex physical phenomena into useful engineering tools.
My academic training is in mechanical engineering. I studied at IIT Bombay and later completed my PhD in Mechanical Engineering at Penn State, where my research focused on the thermal decomposition and combustion of energetic materials (RDX and HMX) — using quantum mechanics calculations to map reaction pathways at the molecular level and building validated multiphase combustion models from first principles. Since then, my work has moved through two further phases: developing tabulated chemistry and machine learning methods that make detailed kinetic mechanisms computationally tractable for engine simulation, and currently, Chemical Reactor Network (CRN) modeling for gas turbines, industrial boilers, and process reactors — where the goal is accurate emissions prediction and fuel flexibility analysis at engineering speed. The through-line across all of it is the same question: how do we use detailed chemistry at the scale where engineering decisions are actually made?
But my life has never fit neatly inside a single discipline.
Alongside my professional work, I'm deeply interested in a wide range of subjects: physics, mathematics, machine learning, AI, climate technology, agriculture, education, entrepreneurship, philosophy, psychology, economics, yoga, poetry, and civilizational thought. Some of these interests connect directly to my work. Others come from a more personal search for clarity, meaning, and better ways of living and building.
This website exists because I don't want my work and thinking to remain fragmented across notebooks, chats, drafts, and unfinished ideas. I wanted one place where I could build a more coherent public record of what I'm learning, making, and reflecting on.
So this is not just a portfolio site. It is also:
- a research notebook
- a writing space
- a project archive
- a place for experiments and interactive explainers
- a home for long-term learning trails and series
- a stage for mini-courses I want to build
- and, occasionally, a place for Hindi poetry
I increasingly use AI tools as collaborators in thinking, writing, coding, and prototyping. But the goal is not automation for its own sake. The goal is to learn faster, build better, think more clearly, and create work that is useful, honest, and alive.
How to navigate this site
- Work focuses on my professional and technical identity.
- Projects collects things I've built or am building.
- Writing is for more finished essays and longform pieces.
- Notes is where I document ongoing learning and ideas in progress.
- Series groups multi-part explorations — think mini-courses and long-form sequences.
- Courses is where structured learning content will live.
- Poetry holds my Hindi poems and more reflective writing.
- Explore is a bird's-eye view of everything on this site.
- Now is a snapshot of what currently has my attention.
At the center of all of it is a simple impulse: to understand the world more deeply, to build with care, and to keep learning in public.