- Electromagnetic simulation
- Finite element, finite difference methods
- Computations techniques
- Photonic crystal fibres
- Plasmonics
- Solar cells
- Nanophotonics
- Metamaterials
Education:2017 Post Graduate Certificate in Academic Practice (Technology Enabled) City, University of London
2005 Doctor of Philosophy in Physics (Fiber Optics) Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, India
2001 Advanced coursework in Photonics Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, India
2001 Master of Science in Physics Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, India
1997 Bachelor of Science with Honours in Physics St. Stephen’s College, Delhi University, India
Dr Agrawal joined UTS in January 2018 with time evenly split between roles of Associate Professor in the School of Electrical and Data Engineering within the Faculty of Engineering and IT, and Director of the Women in Engineering and IT programme. Previously Dr Agrawal worked at City, University of London from 2005-2017 in the Department of Electrical Engineering. She was a Royal Society postdoctoral fellow, and her PhD was on modelling methods for optical components, completed at the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi in 2005.
Dr Agrawal’s research interests lie in optics: modelling of photonic components such as solar cells, optical fibres, sensors, lasers etc. She is an expert on numerical methods for optics such as Finite Element Method (FEM). She has written a book on FEM, and edited a book on trends in computational photonics. She is passionate about increasing the representation of women in Science and Engineering. She is currently the Associate Vice President of Diversity for the IEEE Photonics Society. She was awarded the 2020 Distinguished Service Award of the IEEE Photonics Society for exceptional contributions to the Photonics Society as a champion of Diversity and Inclusion initiatives.
Dr Agrawal is a Chartered Physicist, Chartered Engineer and a Senior Member of the IEEE and Optical Society of America. She is also a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Physics.