The Indian Institute of Technology Madras is known nationally and internationally for its excellence in technical education, basic and applied research, innovation, entrepreneurship, and industrial consultancy. A faculty of international repute, a highly motivated and brilliant student community, excellent technical and supporting staff, and an effective administration have all contributed to the pre-eminent status of IIT Madras. The Institute is proud to bear the laureate of being the No. 1 engineering university in India. More recently, IIT Madras has been named the Institute of Eminence. In 1956, the German government offered technical assistance to establish an institute of higher education in engineering in India. The first Indo-German agreement in Bonn, West Germany, to establish the Indian Institute of Technology at Madras was signed in 1959. The Institute was formally inaugurated in 1959 by Prof. Humayun Kabir, Union Minister for Scientific Research and Cultural Affairs. IIT Madras is a residential institute with nearly 550 faculty, 8000 students, and 1250 administrative & supporting staff. It is a self-contained campus located in a beautiful wooded land of about 250 hectares. The campus is located in Chennai, previously known as Madras. The Department of Mechanical Engineering at IIT Madras is as old as the Institute itself. With nearly 700 undergraduates, 500 graduate students and over 60 faculty members, the department is the largest in the country and one of the largest in Asia. Over 30 faculty members are actively engaged in teaching and research in the domain of thermo-fluids, which includes two-phase flow, surface wettability, microfluidics, cavitation, boiling, condensation, PCM-based heat sinks, bio-heat transfer, droplet and spray combustion, particle-laden flows, biomass gasification, refrigeration and air-conditioning, solar thermal energy, internal combustion engines, and turbomachines.