Rekha R. Rao - Fellow, Elected 2026
For outstanding contributions in the computational fluid mechanics of complex fluids, including theoretical development, numerical algorithms, and finite element implementation; and the impact of her work in computational rheology, including viscoelasticity, suspensions, foams and other non-Newtonian fluids, on applications from manufacturing and energy-production to environmental issues and polymer processing.
Rekha R. Rao
Dr. Rekha Rao is a Distinguished Member of Technical Staff at Sandia National Laboratories I Albuquerque, New Mexico. She came to Sandia in 1990 after earning her BS from UC Berkeley and PhD from the University of Washington, both in Chemical Engineering. Rekha is an expert in the computational mechanics of complex fluids, including theoretical development, numerical algorithms, and finite element implementation. She is a founder of Goma 7.0, an R&D 100 winning open-source software package for process flow modeling. She has authored 120 peer-reviewed journal articles, reports, and proceedings. Her projects have ranged from manufacturing, and energy-production, to environmental issues, and polymer processing but all have focused on complex fluids, including suspensions, emulsions, foam, polymers, slurries and other yield stress fluids.
Dr. Rao has received several awards. In 2012, Rekha won the Asian American Engineer of the Year Award, given for a combination of technical excellence and community service. In 2018, she won a “Career Achievement Award in Government,” from the Women of Color in STEM Conference. In 2023, she was made a Fellow of the US Association of Computational Mechanics (USACM). Rekha has received many Sandia internal awards including two Employee Recognition Awards, three Director’s Awards, six Certificate of Excellence Awards, and seven years of Royalty Awards. Rekha is Vice-President of the US Association of Computational Mechanics; In July 2024, she will become the USACM President. As the first female USACM President, she will be a powerful role model for women and minorities in computational mechanics. Rekha was the Technical Program Chair for the US National Congress on Computational Mechanics last July 2023.
Rekha chairs the Female Research Committee of the IACM, mentoring and encouraging women in computational mechanics. At Sandia, she actively supports women researchers and encourages junior staff. She is on the Professional Development Committee for the Sandia Women’s Action Network events and founded the “Women in Research” Seminar Series. Away from work, Rekha enjoys spending time with her family, friends, and two dogs. She loves cooking, gardening, reading, walking/hiking, and traveling.