Ritbik Kumar

Ritbik Kumar, a PhD student in Purdue’s School of Sustainability Engineering and Environmental Engineering (SEE) and a Purdue master’s alum, is serving as a Graduate Student Mentor for Purdue Engineering’s GradTrack Program. In this role, he is guiding a cohort of prospective graduate students from institutions across the U.S. in navigating the graduate school application process.

“Each mentoring circle consists of approximately 6–7 undergraduate mentees and two graduate mentors, working collaboratively throughout the semester to achieve specific deliverables that include key graduate school application documents,” said Ritbik.

Ritbik’s responsibilities involve leading structured discussions on graduate application timelines and best practices for organizing materials, identifying suitable programs and faculty based on research interests, developing key application documents, and more. Ritbik also conducts one- on-one meetings with mentees to discuss how to effectively convey their motivation and academic story. He also served as a panelist during the Sept. 22 GradTrack session, “From Decision to Day One: Transitions and Figuring It Out,” which focused on preparing the cohort (around 60 prospective graduate student) for the transition from undergraduate to graduate life. The discussion topics included interpreting graduate offer letters and funding packages, navigating housing, insurance, and relocation logistics, building academic and social support networks.

Ritbik’s personal accomplishments as a graduate student play a big role in informing his experience as a mentor. Ritbik’s research focuses on advancing sustainable manufacturing and materials engineering. He is part of the Laboratory for Sustainable Manufacturing under the supervision of Dr. John W. Sutherland.

“My first project with National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) focused on developing indicators to measure the circularity of product life cycles. In this work, I analyzed sub-assembly components, such as hard disk drives (HDDs) and central processing units (CPUs), and developed a system-level model for server assemblies to enable detailed circularity assessments. Additionally, I conducted life cycle assessments (LCAs) of server systems to inform end-of-life (EoL) strategies based on component-level performance.

My current research supported by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) centers on the development of low-density Fe–Mn–Al multi-principal element alloys (MPEAs) for lightweighting in automotive applications. My role involves performing comprehensive LCAs and techno-economic analyses (TEAs) to evaluate the cost and environmental impacts of conventional automotive materials, such as high-strength steel (HSS).”

This work has motivated Ritbik to pursue real-world sustainability challenges through system-level analysis and interdisciplinary collaboration.

“My research vision is to contribute to academic and industrial sustainability pipeline by developing comprehensive body of knowledge in sustainability assessment, techno-economic analysis (TEA), system modeling, manufacturing, and sustainable finance. In future, I would love to be involved in projects evaluating emerging technologies by integrating TEA and LCA approaches and help stakeholders make informed, data-driven decisions that balance economic viability with environmental stewardship. Beyond research, I am deeply interested in university leadership and collaboration, and I strive to engage with diverse technical teams to design and implement data-driven, model-based, and experimentally validated solutions that advance sustainable manufacturing and resource efficiency.”

Ritbik shared that skills he gained as a student in SEE and what he learned from his Purdue mentors has become foundational in his role as a GradTrack Mentor.

“I drew upon my experience in resume workshops, grant writing, academic writing, and other experiences in graduate school to help mentees throughout the program. I would like to express my sincere appreciation to my advisor, Dr. John W. Sutherland, for his support and encouragement in participating in the GradTrack program. Additionally, Dr. Jacqueline McDermott provided outstanding leadership throughout the program, ensuring that both mentors and mentees had a meaningful and engaging learning experience.”

Ritbik believes that participating in programs like GradTrack during graduate school is highly valuable.

“Both a PhD and the subsequent career, whether in academia or industry, demand strong collaboration and coordination skills. Programs like this help develop the ability to manage people, projects, and resources, initiate and maintain collaborations, and communicate effectively to transfer knowledge - skills that are essential not only for conducting successful research but also for long-term career growth and impact. Additionally, it also brings you the opportunity to know more about people around you and build a good professional community which is really important!”

Ritbik believes that SEE strives for bold thinking that is grounded in engineering to innovate and implement technical solutions to address real-world problems and contribute to a sustainable future.

“I always feel that I am a part of community that has a global impact through its diverse body of work and knowledge. SEE is the place to be if you love thinking bold, create and contribute to humanity and planet in one way or the other.”

For more information about Purdue’s School of Sustainability Engineering and Environmental Engineering, please visit: https://engineering.purdue.edu/SEE.