What I do:
Ganesh Patil is a mechanical engineer and researcher who develops intelligent acoustic sensing systems inspired by nature. His work brings together wave physics, biosonars, and AI/ML to help machines interpret sound the way animals do. By studying how echolocating species like dolphins and bats perceive their environments, he designs AI-powered acoustic perception methods that are efficient, reliable, and adaptable.
Who I am:
In addition to being a MIDAS Postdoctoral Affiliate, Ganesh is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Michigan. He earned his Ph.D. and M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and his B.Tech and Licentiate Diploma from VJTI in India. His doctoral research focused on how waves travel through materials, and how new materials can be engineered to shape and control those waves in novel ways. Today, he applies that deep technical foundation to bio-inspired sensing, working at the intersection of acoustics, marine biology, and AI/ML to explore how dolphins learn from sound, and how we can use those insights to build smarter, more adaptive technologies.
What drives me:
Ganesh is motivated by the challenge of understanding how animals make sense of the world through sound, and the potential to apply those insights to the machines we build. He believes that combining the elegance of biological systems with the power of modern AI can unlock new frontiers in sensing, autonomy, and environmental exploration. His goal is to bridge biology and engineering to create acoustic technologies that are not only functional, but also adaptive, resilient, and inspired by life itself.