Bhavana Swaminathan is a 5th year Ph.D. candidate in Materials Science at UC Santa Barbara and a current NASA Space Technology Graduate Research Fellow. Her work focuses on the characterization of damage accumulation in ceramic matrix composites, which are well-suited for the high temperature and extreme environment conditions of aerospace and space applications. Her work utilizes novel multi-modal experimental techniques, combining high-resolution microscopy with non-destructive evaluation methods and large-data statistical analysis approaches. She is primarily interested in the relationships between architecture, stress, environment, and degradation of ceramic-based materials. She has presented her work at numerous national and international conferences and has given multiple invited talks at NASA Glenn Research Center and the Air Force Research Laboratory.

As a mentor, Bhavana has supervised four undergraduate researchers in the Daly group at UCSB and currently serves as a graduate advisor for the UCSB Rocket Propulsion Laboratory. Along with several other Ph.D. students, she is working to develop a technical communications and career resource initiative for undergraduates in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at UCSB. Bhavana is a former three-time engineering intern at Boeing and has been a visiting Research Fellow at NASA Glenn Research Center throughout her PhD. She earned her BS in Materials Science & Engineering from Case Western Reserve University.