Rijan
Maharjan

Rijan Maharjan is a Research Scientist at Phutung Research Institute in Kathmandu, Nepal. He obtained his Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Lafayette College (Easton, PA, USA), where he worked on turbulent boundary layers. Following that, he obtained his PhD in Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science, studying shear thickening fluids, from Yale University (New Haven, CT, USA). Since then, he has been working at Phutung Research Institute, co-leading the development of a real-time, optics-based, reagent-free water assessment system, in addition to working on various spectroscopic and nanophotonic techniques for development of optics based environmental sensors. He also recently won the 2024 Optica Foundation Challenge Prize to develop novel optical sensors for rapid detection of pathogens in drinking water.