Prabhakar Ranganathan
Faculty of Engineering
Helping students engage with grand and deep ideas
Prabhakar hopes he is inspiring the next generation of thinking engineers who know how to use their heads — creatively, rigorously, and ethically.
What are you doing differently in your field that you believe is driving real change?
Honestly, I don’t think I’m doing something radically new. It’s old wine in a new bottle — and the wine is not mine to change. The best I can do is to preserve and convey its essence as faithfully and clearly as I can.
I don't believe I’m fundamentally doing anything different from the wonderful teachers I had the privilege of learning from. What I try to do is engage students with the grand and deep ideas at the heart of what I teach — ideas that took some of the best minds centuries to develop, and that underpin much of modern technological progress.
The amazing thing is that our wonderful students — future engineers — can absolutely ‘get’ this old and beautiful wisdom. They can learn it, make sense of it, and use it to design new systems and technologies that meet the complex challenges of today.
While the wine is essential, so is the bottle. Modern educational technologies give us tools to deliver these ideas in engaging ways, and to help students grapple with them collaboratively — through interactive simulations, visualisations, design projects, and peer learning. My hope is that they emerge not just as engineers who can don hard hats and roll up their sleeves, but as thinking engineers who know how to use their heads — creatively, rigorously, and ethically.
I don't believe I’m fundamentally doing anything different from the wonderful teachers I had the privilege of learning from. What I try to do is engage students with the grand and deep ideas at the heart of what I teach — ideas that took some of the best minds centuries to develop, and that underpin much of modern technological progress. ”
How do you help students build confidence, not just knowledge?
Thermodynamics and fluid mechanics are often seen as “difficult” subjects. They involve intricate logical reasoning and some of the most advanced mathematics in engineering science.
My approach is to help students uncover the physically intuitive ideas that underlie the logic — and to show that mathematics is not some mysterious obstacle, but a symbolic abstraction of those physical principles. Once students grasp the ideas at the heart of the theory, the math begins to feel like a precise and powerful language, not a foreign one.
I also use our practical sessions to run team-based problem-solving activities that connect abstract concepts to real-world applications. The aim is to demonstrate that “theoretical” does not mean “impractical.” On the contrary — theory is the rigorous foundation of good engineering practice. Without it, we’re not engineers, but mechanical tinkerers posing as inventors.
But none of this learning can happen in an atmosphere of fear. For students to grow into confident engineers, we need to create an environment where it is okay to get things wrong. Our weekly exercises are designed to support this: not as punitive assessments, but as spaces where students can work with each other and the teaching team to build the skills and habits of complex engineering thinking.
What mindset do you want your students to carry into their careers?
I’m skeptical of the term. Set minds, even well-intentioned ones, are the bane of creative citizenry. I’d rather they remain unsettled — curious, critical, and open to changing their minds as they learn and grow.
What’s the biggest myth about university education you wish more people would rethink?
That its sole purpose — even for engineers — is to make “job-ready” automatons.
The original purpose of the modern university was to educate: to develop thoughtful, ethical, and humble citizens. Not to train runners in some endless race to prove they’re better or more valuable than others.
A good education should help you see clearly, think critically, and live responsibly — not just earn a salary.