Meet the Jury Thejaswi Tumkur on Engineering laser-matter interactions for advanced materials processing

Arenberg Doctoral School is proud to invite you to Meet The Jury!

When internationally renowned experts visit KU Leuven as a member of a PhD Examination Committee, we like to seize this opportunity to give this expert a forum to a large audience. All members of Science, Engineering & Technology are most welcome to the Meet The Jury Lectures.

Dr. Thejaswi Tumkur (Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, USA) will give a lecture on “Engineering laser-matter interactions for advanced materials processing”.

Laser materials processing enables fine control of material structure and performance in a wide range of materials, enabling both advanced manufacturing and precise processing applications. I will present on a subset of ongoing work at LLNL in this realm, which includes the implementation of advanced optical control strategies for improving process control in laser powder bed fusion of metals. In addition, I will also discuss laser dewetting of thin films to drive controlled pattern formation via capillary instabilities, as well as ultrafast laser-based processing of diamond substrates for applications in inertial confinement fusion target fabrication.

Thej Tumkur is a staff scientist and principal investigator in the Materials Science Division and Physical Life Sciences Directorate at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, CA. He holds a PhD from Norfolk State University, Norfolk, VA, and a B.S. from Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN in Materials Science and Engineering. Prior to joining LLNL in 2019, he was a Smalley Postdoctoral Fellow at Rice University in Houston, TX. His work at LLNL has focused on applying laser beam shaping strategies to improve process control in metal additive manufacturing. His other research interests include near-field imaging, plasmonics, metamaterials, and two-photon lithography-based 3D printing.

Following the lecture, there will be opportunity for young researchers to interact with him.

• Venue: Vergaderzaal Da Vinci (0456), Department of Mechanical Engineering (Celestijnenlaan 300, 3001 Heverlee)
• Date: 27 January 2026 – 13:30-14:30
• Dr. Thejaswi Tumkur is visiting KU Leuven on the occasion of the PhD defence of Lars Vanmunster