In his retirement, Batra remains active by pursuing writing/publishing projects as well as industrial consulting. The latter focus is on problems in:

*  nonwovens science/technology,

* analysis of textile manufacturing problems and

* use of fibers, yarns and fabrics as engineering materials in a broad range of applications.

Ph.D., Mechanics, 1966 Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

M.S., Management, 1977 Massachusetts Institute of Technology

M.S., Textile Technology/Mechanical Engineering, 1961 Massachusetts Institute of Technology

B.S., Textile Technology, 1957 Delhi University, India

Subhash K. Batra received his early education in India, followed by advanced degrees from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in the U.S. His professional career includes teaching and research as a graduate student at the two institutions, and research appointments at the Battle Memorial Institute (Columbus, OH) and MIT (Cambridge, MA). In 1977 he joined NCSU as an Associate Professor.

In his early career, Batra gained some notoriety for his elucidation of the mechanism of sperm transport in the male reproductive system through mechanical/mathematic models. This work was widely cited in the field. In the area of fiber science, during this period, he made significant contributions to the understanding of thermo-mechanical, and lateral compressive behavior of nylon and PET monofilaments. He also helped understand the mechanism of internal pressure generation in a twisted structure (yarn), subject to tensile load but constrained from rotating.

Since early 1980's, he has been interested in developing an understanding of the mechanical performance of fiberweb structures, called nonwovens. In collaboration with his students, he has successfully established the connection between the fiber mechanical properties and web structure in determining the anisotropic elastic behavior of fiberwebs, including lateral compression, through mechanics-based models. He has also shown that LEFM concepts can be used to characterize tear resistance of dense, well-bonded, two- dimensional non-woven fabrics. Similarly, he has been successful in developing a test method for measurement of "bond-strength" for a certain class of nonwovens. These successes, together with collaboration of colleagues, enabled him to establish the Nonwovens Cooperative Research Center, in 1991, through an award from the National Science Foundation, the State of North Carolina and industrial membership. Through this mechanism, as the Director of this Center, he collaborates with and nurtures the research of several colleagues (some in other universities) and graduate students. the nature and extent of this research is detailed in the description of the NCRC in the pages of this web site.  

Subhash K. Batra, in the last ten years has also been active in investigations related to the processes of ring spinning and over-end unwinding. His ground breaking work with Dr. M.I. Zeidman and Dr. Tushar K. Ghosh on ring spinning in the late 1980's and with Dr. W. Barrie Fraser and Dr. Tushar K. Ghosh on over-end winding in the early 1990's, has stimulated much additional research at NCSU, University of Sydney (Australia) and at Clemson University.

In addition to his teaching and research, he has been active in the affairs of ASME Textile Engineering Division and those of The Fiber Society. His professional activities have taken him to Australia, Czech Republic, France, Germany, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, Pakistan, People's Republic of China, United Kingdom, Sweden, Taiwan to lecture and participate in international conferences.

At NCSU he has taught in the areas of nonwovens technology, mechanics of yarns and fabrics and management acconting. In addition, he engaged in a modest amount of technical consulting with the industry.

His present hobbies have been meditation (via emotional linkage to Tibetan Buddhism), gardening, indoor plants, modest amounts of exercise, an occasional long walk, worrying about fruit trees (his grape vines, apple trees, pear trees, blue berry bushes, quince bushes do not like to bear fruit), staring at his computer monitor, and reading (God-forbid) an occasional book.