Dr. S. Manikandan is currently working as Assistant Professor (Research) in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Chennai, Tamil Nadu. He completed his Ph.D. in Energy Engineering from the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (IITD) in 2017 under the guidance of Prof. S. C. Kaushik and received a Distinction in Doctoral Research Award from IIT Delhi.

He is currently guiding four Ph.D. research projects on bifacial photovoltaic (PV) systems, solar PV waste management, daytime radiative cooling, and thermal management of electronic devices. He received the prestigious Building Energy Efficiency Higher and Advanced Network (BHAVAN) Fellowship in 2016 from the Indo-US Science and Technology Forum (IUSSTF) to work with the research group of Prof. Ronggui Yang at the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Colorado University at Boulder, USA. He also received International Travel Assistance from the Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB), Government of India, in 2015 and 2019.

With a prolific publication record of 5 Indian patents, 33 journal publications, 3 book chapters, and one book on thermoelectric energy conversion, he actively contributes to the academic and research community. He holds life membership in the Solar Energy Society of India. Presently he is working on 6 projects funded by SRM IST, ISRO, ZF Rane, and Daystar Solar, India, with funding of INR 49,95,000/- (Forty-Nine Lakh Rupees). He also serves as a guest editor for a special issue in the MDPI Journal "[Crystals]," titled "Advanced Nano-materials for Thermal Energy Storage Applications.

He is the co-coordinator of the “Center of Excellence for Electronic Cooling and CFD Simulation” at SRM IST, established in collaboration with Intel Corporation, USA.