Mechanical Engineer · Poet · Builder

Vishesh
"Vik"
Kumar

"Engineer by training. Poet by necessity. Builder of things that matter."

RMIT Mechanical Engineering student based in Melbourne, specialising in aerospace & autonomous systems — and occasionally writing things that make people feel less alone.

More than one thing
at once

I'm a Mechanical Engineering student at RMIT University (graduating November 2026), specialising in aerospace engineering, mechatronics, and autonomous systems. I grew up in Delhi — fireflies and chai and a grandfather's warmth — and landed in Melbourne chasing something I couldn't quite name yet.

I've designed deployable nosecones for L2-class rockets, programmed autonomous drones, and built digital twin pipelines for cardiovascular stents. I've also written poems at 2am and co-founded a social impact initiative with a researcher from India's Prime Minister's Office.

"I am still here, scraped, uneven, stubborn, still wanting — which I've learned is not a flaw."

I believe the most interesting people refuse to be one thing. I'm an engineer who reads Camus, a poet who understands fluid dynamics, and someone who thinks Richard Feynman's greatest achievement was making physics feel like joy.

Currently serving as Lab Manager at RMIT's UAV Research Team, running the Irada initiative, and actively seeking graduate roles in aerospace, defence, and R&D.

Recent Projects

From UAVs to cardiovascular stents — engineering that spans scales.

Biomedical · CFD
Digital Twin for Cardiovascular Stents
Full fluid–structure interaction pipeline for stent deployment, using patient-specific 3D artery scans. Evaluating wall shear stress, pressure drop, and flow recovery under supervision at RMIT & LEAP/ANSYS.
ANSYS FluentFSISpaceClaim
Rocketry · Systems
Deployable Nosecone — L2 Rocket
Servo-actuated two-fairing deployable nosecone for an L2-class rocket. Full systems engineering from trade studies to validated preliminary design with demo prototype.
OpenRocketSolidWorksSystems Eng.
UAV · Autonomy
Autonomous Drone (Ongoing)
Colour detection and autonomous landing system for RUASRT. Building Python control scripts with gyro, range, colour, and temperature sensors for full flight autonomy.
PythonSensorsNavigation
View All Work & Experience →

Irada

Turning intention into action.

Co-founded with Ishika Chaudhary — a policy researcher with direct experience at NITI Aayog, the Prime Minister's Office of India — Irada is a social impact initiative dedicated to empowering women through mentorship, skill development, and access to opportunities.

We bridge the gap between advanced gender-equality research and the women who need it most. Because the most meaningful policy insights shouldn't stay in policy circles.

Learn about Irada →
01
Translate
Complex policy insights into accessible, practical guidance.
02
Connect
Meaningful mentor-mentee relationships that open doors.
03
Empower
Skills, networks, and mindset to own their futures.
04
Act
Intention means nothing without action. We create the conditions.

Thoughts

Poems, book notes, and ideas I can't stop turning over.

Poem
where i am from
I am from fireflies, from ancestral hymns and love. I am from the place I still call home even in my dreams, where the air smells like my grandmother...
Currently Reading & Thinking About
📖
The Myth of Sisyphus
Albert Camus
The essay on philosophical suicide hit hard — and I disagree with Camus on something important: I think philosophical suicide is worse than physical death. At least death leaves remembrance. To surrender the will to question is to erase even the trace of having once been awake.
🔭
For the Love of Physics
Walter Lewin
What I loved: he doesn't bury you in maths. He shows you that physics is just looking at the world and asking obvious questions without embarrassment.
🚀
Ignited Minds
APJ Abdul Kalam
Learning how to fly — in every sense of the word.
My Ideal
Richard Feynman is everything I aspire to be — won the Nobel Prize in Physics, made ideas feel like play, and lived proof that curiosity beats credential. Also reportedly one of the lowest IQ Nobel laureates, which I find both deeply comforting and extremely funny.
All Thoughts →

Let's talk

Whether it's about engineering, Irada, a poem, or just a good conversation.