Rate My Professor Gobinath Rajarathnam

Dr. Gobinath Rajarathnam serves as Lecturer (Education Focused) and Director of External Engagement in the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, at the University of Sydney. He earned his PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of Sydney between 2013 and 2016. His research spans social good initiatives, artificial intelligence, augmented and virtual reality, machine learning, and engineering education. Rajarathnam's early career included postdoctoral research within the Faculty of Engineering. He teaches core units including CHNG1108: Introduction to Chemical Engineering and CHNG2803/9203: Heat and Mass Transfer. As Director of External Engagement, he drives collaborations between academia and industry, exemplified by his role in the Cogniti project, an AI platform for technical education that secured the Australian Financial Review AI Award in 2025.

Rajarathnam's scholarly impact is reflected in over 580 citations on Google Scholar. Notable publications include 'Optimization of a stand-alone photovoltaic–wind–diesel–battery system with multi-layered demand scheduling' (Tu, Rajarathnam, Vassallo, 2018; 88 citations), 'Life cycle assessment of disposed and recycled end-of-life photovoltaic panels in Australia' (Singh et al., 2021; 84 citations), 'The Zinc/Bromine Flow Battery: Materials Challenges and Practical Solutions for Technology Advancement' (Rajarathnam, Vassallo, 2016; 71 citations), 'The influence of novel bromine sequestration agents on zinc/bromine flow battery performance' (Schneider et al., 2016; 66 citations), and 'Cost-Normalized Circular Economy Indicator and Its Application to Post-Consumer Plastic Packaging Waste' (Tashkeel et al., 2021; 17 citations). His work addresses renewable energy optimization, flow battery technologies, photovoltaic waste recycling, and circular economy metrics. Additionally, he is Principal Contact for The Sydney Journal of Interdisciplinary Engineering, Editor-in-Chief of TSJCBEE, and founder of Mercularis, a startup advancing the digital circular economy.