[2] Her research involves the mechanical properties of advanced materials, including nanocrystalline and nanotwinned metals.
Kulkarni studied civil engineering as an undergraduate at IIT Bombay in India, graduating in 2001.
She then went to the California Institute of Technology for graduate study in applied mechanics, earned a master's degree in 2002, and completed her Ph.D. in 2006.
[3] Her dissertation, Coarse-Graining of Atomistic Description at Finite Temperature, was supervised by Michael Ortiz.
[2] Kulkarni was the 2017 recipient of the Sia Nemat-Nassar Early Career Award of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME).