I am a postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Philosophy of Science, University of Pittsburgh, working on the foundations of thermal physics, especially the relationship between fluctuations, irreversibility and the Second Law, and the extension of thermodynamics to small systems ("stochastic thermodynamics") where some of these issues become particularly salient.  

In my PhD thesis, at the University of Cambridge (2023-26), I examine the foundations of statistical thermodynamics, a modern characterization of thermodynamics, but one that goes all the way back to Einstein's work on Brownian motion, and show how a correct and nuanced understanding of the foundations of the "statistics" in thermodynamics can address several philosophical issues in the literature, including misconceptions that fluctuations somehow violate the Second Law.  

I also specialize in philosophy of applied mathematics, where I look at what makes some mathematical models the high-level features of a system insensitive to its low-level details. 

I became interested in such questions (and philosophical questions, generally) during my first PhD in applied mathematics (and philosophy) at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand (2019-23). Here I worked on foundations of applied topology, examining whether topological models of dynamical and complex systems contain enough information to explain their features 'non-causally'. Though much of the thesis is technical in nature, the overall motivation is philosophical (addressing the nature of application of topological models), which explains the "philosophy" in my first PhD, and led me to a few visiting PhD studentships, one at the Department of Linguistics and Philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and another at the Department of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Cambridge, and a research fellowship at the Institute Vienna Circle, University of Vienna.   

I have other research interests (thanks to my eccentric educational background) such as Buddhist philosophy (and its parallels to Western philosophy) and Indian astronomical traditions. Some of my hobbies are less eccentric though: in my spare time, I like to be lost in music, marvel at the sky, go around mountains, play with dogs, photograph, enjoy table tennis, motivate my peers, and more.  

I am open to collaborations in foundations of thermal physics and philosophy of mathematics should you be interested in my research. My CV (as of Oct 2026) can be found here and you can reach out to me at aditya9835[at]gmail[dot]com