Ethirajan Rathakrishnan is a Professor of Aerospace Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, where he is in charge of the high speed aerodynamics laboratory. Rathakrishnan's research interests are experimental and theoretical gas dynamics and rarefied flows, as well as applied gas dynamics in high speed jets, sudden expansion problems, aeroacoustics, and active and passive control of jets and base flows. He has led numerous research projects with the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), Defense Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), National Aerospace Laboratory (NAL), Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and IIT Kanpur. He has been a visiting professor at Clarkson University, Florida State University, Hyperschall Technologie Gottingen, the International Centre for Theoretical Physics, Trieste, Italy, and the University of Tokyo. Honors include the Excellence in Aerospace Education Award from the President of India and Best Teacher Award by the Uttar Pradesh Chapter of Publishers. Rathakrishnan is also an active conference organizer and keynote speaker. He holds a BSc in Mathematics from Madras University, DMIT in Aerodynamics, Propulsion, and Aircraft Structures from MIT Madras, an M Tech in Aerodynamics from IIT Madras, and a PhD in Gas Dynamics: Rarefied and Continuum Regimes from IIT Madras.