Varun Kathpalia, born and raised in northern part of India, joined EETI as a PhD student in the Spring of 2024.
He completed his undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering from Chitkara Institute of Engineering and Technology (Punjab Technical University, India) and master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, specializing in Manufacturing & Materials Science Engineering, from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, India.

He has over 4 years of corporate experience with companies such as Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages Pvt. Ltd. and Saint-Gobain India Pvt. Ltd. (Research & Development). His interest in areas such as improvement in instructional techniques, faculty perspectives and teaching methodologies, drove him towards the domain of Engineering Education. Specifically, the question of how engineering education can be made more effective and engaging fascinated and motivated him to pursue research in this domain.
He is working with his major professor on an NSF funded project dealing with communities and relationships that enable and empower faculty and students in engineering.

Varun likes to travel, watch movies and documentaries, listen to Bollywood music, and loves exploring new places with his wife!