Arvind Agarwal, Ph.D., FASME, FAAAS, FNAI, FACerS, FASM

Dr. Arvind Agarwal is the Professor and Chair of the Department of Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU). Prior to this, he was a Distinguished University Professor in the Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering at Florida International University (FIU) from 2002-2025. He obtained his B.S. from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur and a Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. He worked as a Materials Scientist at Plasma Processes, Huntsville, AL, for 3 years before starting his academic career.
Prof. Agarwal's current research interests include advanced materials processing, including Additive Manufacturing (AM) of metals and ceramics using Cold spray, wire arc additive manufacturing, plasma spray, ultrahigh-temperature ceramics, boron nitride nanotubes, and graphene-reinforced composites; nanoindentation; and the mechanical properties of biological materials. Prof. Agarwal has published over 470 technical articles, including 3 books. His research has been cited more than 22,000 times (H-index: 75). He is the inventor of 35 U.S. patents. Eight (8) patents have been licensed for commercialization. Prof. Agarwal's research has been funded by NSF, ONR, AFOSR, ARO, ARL, NASA, DOE, and industry, totaling more than $35M as PI and another $47M as Co-PI. He served as a Co-PI at an NSF-funded Engineering Research Center (ERC) Cell Met.
Prof. Agarwal has mentored more than 50 doctoral and post-doctoral and 100 MS/BS researchers in his labs. His students are employed as faculty members, national lab scientists, and senior engineers in the industry, globally.
Prof. Agarwal has extensive experience in academic and research administration at FIU. He served as Chair of the Mechanical and Materials Engineering (MME) department from 2017-2024. He was the Director of the School of Biomedical, Materials, and Mechanical (SBMME) for 2 years. He was Associate Dean of the Research College of Engineering and Computing (CEC) from 2015-17. He served as Director of the Advanced Materials Engineering Research Institute (AMERI) from 2012-2022.
Prof. Agarwal is an elected Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI), American Association for Advancement of Science (AAAS), American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), American Ceramic Society (ACerS), American Society of Materials (ASM) International, and the Foreign Fellow of the Indian Institute of Metals (IIM).