At The University of Tulsa, students have several paths they can choose from to define their educational experience. Second-year student Harish Vaithianathan chose a unique path, majoring in chemical engineering and economics. By combining his interests to elevate his technical skills, he curated a path tailored to his academic interests.
A Tulsa native, Vaithianathan’s father graduated in 2016 with a master’s in business administration as an established chemical engineer. Seeing his father advance his career inspired him to pursue his academic journey here at UTulsa.
“Like some high schoolers, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to major in during college applications. But engineering has always been part of my identity,” he explained. “I chose chemical engineering because I like problem-solving and its versatility on a global scale. I chose economics too because I liked the analytic process behind it and was surprised how captivated I was by it.”
Vaithianathan said chemical engineering has trained him to solve problems with principles based on equations, logic and judgment. Economics emphasized this with teaching him strategies on solving real-world finance and economic issues. The intersection of these disciplines became clear, influencing him to pursue undergraduate research and community involvement.
“These majors give me both the blueprint, the map and the equations that build solutions and the strategies that scale them,” he said. “They have become two gears in one machine, not just parallel passions.”
Vaithianathan has participated in several research studies and organizations. He holds executive roles in the South Asian Student Association, Asian American Student Association and Student Government Association. These organizations led him to unforgettable experiences such as dancing at Diwali to emceeing and celebrating with over 300 attendees at UTulsa’s Lunar New Year celebration.
“These organizations taught me that it isn’t just about titles, it’s about leaving things and people better than you found them,” he said.
This summer, Vaithianathan collaborated with UTulsa’s Fluid Flow Projects as a part of the Tulsa Undergraduate Research Challenge. He worked at the North Campus facilities under the supervision of Eduardo Pereyra, Ph.D., F.H. “Mick” Merelli/Coterra Energy Chair Professor in Petroleum Engineering. Vaithianathan’s project focused on phase inversion, a phenomenon where a dominant fluid at the pipe surface shifts between phases with implications across energy, chemical, biomedical and environmental systems.
“Harish provided a new experimental design to analyze a complex problem. He was able to improve and implement his original ideas with the help of the North Campus technicians. These are unique opportunities that only UTulsa undergraduate students are exposed to,” Pereyra said.
“I was not just a bystander in this project, I was building its backbone,” Vaithianathan explained. “It’s complex work, but that’s the point. I want to understand the rules at their edges so I can push them safely. What starts in Tulsa can scale anywhere in the world.”
Vaithianathan designed and calibrated new instruments, including a conductivity probe to identify the continuous fluid phase and integrated a computer-vision system to monitor fluid film levels with precision. He plans to advance this research globally as it advances understanding of multiphase flow, improving safety, efficiency and sustainability across multiple industries. Vaithianathan emphasized this will be his way of giving back to his community.
“Tulsa is where I started pushing boundaries and combining disciplines,” he said. “I don’t just want to excel, I want to redefine what’s possible. UTulsa is not just my stepping stone, it’s my launchpad.”