Prof. O. Prabhakar is a retired Professor of Metallurgical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Chennai (IITM), where he dedicated nearly 30 years to teaching and research in nondestructive evaluation, metallurgy, and metal casting before voluntarily retiring in 1998. Following his retirement, he served as a faculty member at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore from 1998 to 2004.
Currently, he is the proprietor of OPTECH, a consultancy firm offering educational services in these fields. Prof. Prabhakar’s extensive experience includes training in Non-Destructive Testing at the Bundesanstalt für Materialprüfung in Berlin, Germany, from 1970 to 1972, as well as a stint at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (VPI & SU) from 1980 to 1982, during which he was stationed at NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, USA.
Now based in Chennai, India, he consults for several organizations, including SAMACO Metals and Alloys, Sundaram Brake Lining, the Center for Non-Destructive Evaluation (CNDE) at IITM, and various steel foundries. He has published 15 multimedia educational CDs and has been instrumental in establishing professional training courses, such as ASNT Level III, at the Indian Society for Nondestructive Testing.
Prof. Prabhakar holds a B.Tech and Ph.D. in Metallurgy from IITM and an M.E. in Mechanical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. His primary research interests continue to be nondestructive evaluation, metallurgy, and metal casting.
