Dr. Diwakar's work involves fundamental and applied studies for understanding and applying plasma in various fields of study including remote sensing, chemical characterization and biomedical applications. Dr. Diwakar's experimental and collaborative research work includes understanding laser material interaction, fundamentals of plasma formation, plasma evolution and plasma hydrodynamics, ultrafast laser ablation, analytical applications of laser produced plasma like LIBS, LA-ICP-MS, LA-ICP-OES, aerosol instrumentation, atmospheric cold plasma for biomedical applications, electroporation, laser and ion beam irradiation effects on materials. Dr. Diwakar's strengths lie in applications of plasmas for analytical applications as well as instrument development. of plasma using various experimental diagnostic tools.
Prasoon Diwakar completed his undergraduate studies in mechanical engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur. After completing his undergraduate education, he moved to the University of Florida, Gainesville, for his M.S. and Ph.D. in the ME department under the guidance of Dr. David Hahn. During his PhD, he worked on various projects including combustion and Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) and several another analytical techniques. His PhD dissertation focused on understanding plasma–particle interactions with regards to understanding fundamentals of LIBS for qualitative analysis of aerosols. After completing his Ph.D., Dr. Diwakar joined the NIOSH as a National Research Council postdoc working on aerosol instrumentation development. Following that, he worked as a research associate at Purdue University. Dr. Diwakar joined the ME department at South Dakota Mines in Fall 2018 and he is conducting research in the field of laser diagnostics, sensor development, LIBS, Machine Learning, cold plasma for biomedical applications
Dr. Diwakar joined the ME department at South Dakota Mines in Fall 2018 where he has been teaching the following thermal science courses: ME 313 Heat Transfer, ME 331 Thermo Fluid Dynamics, ME 479 Mechanical Systems Design II, ME 482L Adv Product Develop Lab II, ME 434 Sensors & Instrumentation, and ME 534 Sensors & Instrumentation.