Graduate and Postdoctoral Programs

The Office of Graduate and Postdoctoral Programs oversees graduate academics and student life for the NYU Abu Dhabi campus. The goal of the office is to create a thriving community at NYUAD for graduate students and postdoctoral associates, coordinating a holistic approach to their training, and serving as a resource for nearly 300 postgraduate researchers and their faculty mentors. The Office partners with academic programs, faculty, staff, and campus organizations across NYU Abu Dhabi to promote excellence in graduate education and postdoctoral training.

The Office currently supports PhD students through the Global PhD Student Fellowship, as well as students in master's programs in Art and Media and Economics. Our team members design strategies for all topics that impact graduate study, including:

• academic governance
• new academic degree proposals
• recruitment and admissions
• funding and benefits
• mentorship
• academic progress
• career preparedness
• residential services
• individual well-being
• student assistantships and TAships
• IDBE programs and initiatives
• visiting graduate students
• alumni services

The Office of Graduate and Postdoctoral Programs also supports postdoctoral associates by providing services and resources that enhance their research and that provide the skills needed to successfully transition to an academic or non-academic career. The Office fosters a sense of community for postdoctoral associates that prioritizes excellence, collaboration, and wellness.

Sunil Kumar is a mechanical engineer whose scholarly research focuses on the transport of light and thermal radiation, specifically examining how lasers interact with surfaces and scattering media, fire dynamics, thermal-fluid analysis, and applied mathematics. He came to NYUAD from Polytechnic Institute of New York University (now NYU Tandon School of Engineering), where he was Graduate Dean and Associate Provost, and former head of the Department of Mechanical, Aerospace, and Manufacturing Engineering.

He has also taught at the University of California Berkeley, was a scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratories, and a visiting scientist at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California. Kumar’s publications include approximately 60 journal articles, over 200 conference papers, one book, Heating, Ventilating, and Air Conditioning Handbook for Design and Implementation, and research monographs: “Nanotechnologies for the Life Sciences” and “Modeling and Simulation-Based Life Cycle Engineering.”

Kumar is research leader for NYU's Fire Research efforts, including the Advanced Learning Through Integrated Visual Environments (ALIVE) project, which educates, trains, and disseminates critical information to both career and volunteer firefighters via a unique game-based computer program.

Since its inception, ALIVE has been adopted as a training tool by more than 100 fire departments that encompass more than 25,000 firefighters, including those from New York City and Chicago—two of the largest departments in the United States. ALIVE is funded by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Kumar holds a BTech. from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur; a MS and MA from the State University of New York, Buffalo; and a PhD from the University of California, Berkeley. He is a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. 

Key People