Tamarapu Sridhar. Source: https://research.monash.edu/en/persons/tamarapu-sridhar/
University of Madras. Photo: Jonas Buchholz ( Jbuchholz ), CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Madras_University_Senate_House.jpg)
Monash University. Photo: No machine-readable author provided. Firmatic assumed (based on copyright claims)., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Monashcaulfield2.jpg)
University of Madras. Photo: Jonas Buchholz ( Jbuchholz ), CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Madras_University_Senate_House.jpg)
Monash University. Photo: No machine-readable author provided. Firmatic assumed (based on copyright claims)., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Monashcaulfield2.jpg)
Tamarapu Sridhar was born on September 26, 1949, in Vellore, India, to Tamarapu Desikachary and Tamarapu Chellamma. He came to Australia in 1974 to undertake doctoral study at Monash University, beginning a career that connected Indian and Australian higher education and research.
Sridhar married Kalyani Sampath on June 7, 1978. Their children are Anita and Rohan.
Sridhar received a Bachelor of Engineering from the University of Madras in 1971. The university, established in 1857, was one of the major institutions through which modern higher education developed in southern India.
He completed a Master of Engineering at the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore in 1973. Founded in 1909, the institute became a leading Indian center for scientific and engineering research. He then moved to Australia for doctoral study in chemical engineering at Monash University, receiving his PhD in 1978. Monash, founded in 1958, was one of Australia's postwar universities and developed a strong emphasis on professional and applied research.
Sridhar began his long association with Monash University in 1974 as a doctoral fellow in chemical engineering. After completing his PhD, he served as a research assistant and senior teaching fellow at Monash before spending 1981–1982 as an assistant professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering at the State University of New York at Buffalo. The university was a major American public research institution, while its engineering programs reflected the expansion of chemical and materials research in the postwar period.
He returned to Monash as a senior lecturer in 1982, became a reader in 1987, and was appointed professor and chairman of the Department of Chemical Engineering in 1992. His research addressed gas–liquid reaction engineering, polymer rheology, extensional flow, complex fluids, and the measurement of macromolecular behavior. At Monash, the filament-stretching rheometer associated with his work became an important instrument for studying extensional viscosity in polymer solutions and other complex fluids.
Sridhar served as dean of the Faculty of Engineering from 2003 to 2013 and as Academic Vice President of Monash's China and India Research Institutes from 2014 to 2016. His administrative work included strengthening international educational and research relationships, particularly between Australia and India. He later held emeritus status as a Sir John Monash Distinguished Professor and continued to be associated with engineering research, professional organizations, and academic initiatives.
Sridhar made substantial contributions to chemical reaction engineering through research on mass transfer and reaction in gas–liquid systems, including reactions conducted at elevated pressures and temperatures.
He helped develop filament-stretching rheometry for measuring the extensional viscosity and flow behavior of polymer solutions and other complex fluids, work that became associated with the Sridhar rheometer.
His research career produced more than 140 publications, approximately 44 competitive research grants as principal investigator or co-investigator, and supervision of more than 22 doctoral candidates.
As dean of engineering and as an academic vice president, Sridhar supported research administration and strategic educational relationships between Monash University and institutions in India and China.
(Co-authored study of extensional rheology in polymer melt...)
2014(Article concerning the development of rheological measure...)
2000(Co-authored research applying extensional-viscosity measu...)
2019(Co-authored research on the engineering analysis of liqui...)
1999(Co-authored with Gareth H. McKinley. The review examined ...)
2002Sridhar's professional outlook has emphasized the value of linking fundamental engineering research with practical industrial problems and international collaboration. His work in polymer rheology and reaction engineering treated measurement, modeling, and process understanding as complementary parts of chemical engineering research.
Sridhar has been a Fellow of Engineers Australia, the Institution of Chemical Engineers in the United Kingdom, the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering, and the Australian Academy of Science. He was chair of the Australian branch of the Institution of Chemical Engineers in 2004–2005 and was associated with the Australian Society of Rheology, including service as its president. He also served as a founding co-editor of the Korea-Australia Rheology Journal and held editorial responsibility for journals in rheology and non-Newtonian fluid mechanics.
Fellow
Engineers Australia , Australia
Fellow
Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering , Australia
Fellow
Australian Academy of Science , Australia
Fellow; chair of the Australian branch in 2004–2005
Institution of Chemical Engineers , United Kingdom
Past president
Australian Society of Rheology , Australia
Panel member
Australian Research Council Engineering Panel , Australia
Founding co-editor
Korea-Australia Rheology Journal , Australia
Quotes from others about the person
In announcing his appointment as an Officer of the Order of Australia, the Australian honours citation described Sridhar's service as distinguished work in tertiary education, chemical engineering, academic administration, and international educational relationships.
Sridhar married Kalyani Sampath in 1978 and has two children, Anita and Rohan. His professional connections include Monash University, the State University of New York at Buffalo, the Indian Institute of Science, and research and educational partnerships linking Australian and Indian institutions.
