PhD student Phani "Saketh" Dasika has received a 2025 CIGP Spring Symposium Doctoral Talk Award, presented by the Purdue Office of Interdisciplinary Graduate Programs (OIGP). Saketh is a PhD student from India who works under Pablo Zavattieri, the Jerry M. and Lynda T. Engelhardt Professor in Civil Engineering.

His research lies at the intersection of computational mechanics, bioinspired design, and architected materials. He develops models that blend multiphysics finite element analysis, experimental mechanics, and machine learning to study adaptive structures found in nature—such as bird feathers, mosquito antennae, and beetle exoskeletons— with the goal of informing novel material and structural design strategies across scales from nano to macro.