Dr. Ajit D. Kelkar is a Professor and Chair of Nanoengineering Department at Joint School of Nanoscience and Nanoengineering. For the past twenty five years he has been working in the area of performance evaluation and modeling of polymeric composites and ceramic matrix composites. He has worked with several federal laboratories in the area of fatigue, impact and finite element modeling of woven composites including US Army, US Air force, NASA-Langley Research Center, National science Foundation, Office of Naval Research, FAA and Oak Ridge National Laboratory. His expertise are in the area of low cost fabrication and processing of woven composites using VARTM process, fatigue and impact testing of composites, analytical modeling of woven composites. Presently he is involved in the development of nano engineered multifunctional materials using CNTs, BNNTs and electro spun fiber materials, nanoengineered radiation shielding materials. He has published over two hundred fifty papers in these areas. In addition he has edited two books in the area of Nanoscience and Nanoengineering. He has two patents in the area of composite manufacturing. He has received numerous awards including Senior Researcher Award, Intellectual Property Award at North Carolina A&T State University. He is Fellow of Maharashtra Academy of Science, India. He serves on editorial board for three journals in nanotechnology areas. He is member of several professional societies including ASME, SAMPE, AIAA, ASM, and ASEE.

Nanocomposites, Atomistic Modeling , Nano Engineered Materials, Eletrospinning, Molecular Dynamic Simulations, Nanotechnology, Multifunctional Materials, Crashworthiness, Low Cost Composite Manufacturing (VARTM Processing), Mechanical Characterization of Materials including Metals, Polymeric Composites (Tape and Textile), Ceramics and Ceramic Composites, Computer Aided Design and Modeling, Finite Element and Finite Difference Modeling, Numerical Analysis, Fatigue and Impact Modeling and Testing of Polymeric Composites, Ceramic Composites, Textile Composites, Micromechanics Modeling and Testing, Single Fiber Modeling and Testing.