Project: Smart Sea Level Sensor
Location: Chatham County
Akhil Chavan recently graduated from Georgia Tech with a BS/MS in Mechanical Engineering and is currently working with Dr. Kim Cobb, Professor- Earth & Atmospheric Sciences, on her Smart Sea Level Sensors project. Akhil was an honors student and on the Dean’s list.
He was the Technical director for Engineers Without Borders – Uganda Chapter. This is an international organization designed to implement sustainable engineering projects and provide clean and accessible water to villages in Northeastern Uganda. Akhil led the technical committee in CAD designs, WaterGEMS modeling, and project planning. He collaborated with Professional Engineers (PE), professors and international contracting companies to ensure an achievable and sustainable design. He traveled to Uganda several times to supervise the successful implementation of the solar powered water system. He is currently mentoring other students for the final phase of the project.
Akhil also interned at Argonne National Laboratory as a DOE intern in the engineering department of the Advanced Photon Source where he configured audio and electronics tools to record data from an Acoustic Levitator. He then used his modeling training in MATLAB and COMSOL for post-processing, data analysis and simulation. He co-authored a paper on Acoustic Levitator in “Applied Physics Letters”.
He also co-authored a High Temperature Liquid Metal Pump paper which was published in the journal Nature. This paper was based on his research at Carbon Neutral Energy Solutions Laboratory.
Akhil will be working closely with Randall Matthews, Emergency Management Coordinator – Chatham Emergency Management Agency (CEMA), He will be helping Dr. Russ Clark and Professor Kim Cobb’s team with data analysis and visualization. The team will focus on understanding Randall’s emergency response protocol in Chatham county and recognizing which aspects need the most attention. This information will then be used to design a dashboard that will assist emergency responders in assessing infrastructure throughout the county. Data to build this dashboard will come from sea level sensors installed at bridges in the area as well as community partners such as Savannah Area Geographic Information System, Georgia Department of Transportation, Georgia Tech Savannah, and many other collaborators. By the end of the summer, the team hopes to have a working prototype that can be tested by Randall and improved over time.
On his spare time, Akhil is leading a music startup to help new artists with recording, distribution, marketing and production services. He plays piano, drums and guitar.