Look closely on the sidelines of many Texas A&M University games — from football to men’s and women’s basketball —and you’ll spy a photographer with an unusual skill set.
Ani Tummalapalli is a senior in the J. Mike Walker ’66 Department of Mechanical Engineering. With three mechanical design engineering internships, three years’ experience on an electrical racing car team, and work as a professional photographer under his belt, Tummalapalli balances his time solving engineering problems with unique hobbies and interests.
Since high school, he knew that he wanted to enter a profession involving physical products, design work and physical testing feedback. “Mechanical engineering fit all these criteria for me,” Tummalapalli said. “I also knew it would prepare me for various specializations and applications that I could decide between as I became more experienced during college.”
He has been a long-term member of the Formula Electric car team (Formula E) since it was founded in spring 2021 through the Texas A&M Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE). The Texas A&M SAE gives students experience in sustainable transportation engineering. The teams — including Formula E — develop, design, manufacture and test a hand-built vehicle before competing nationally against other university teams.
Over the last three years, he’s worked on the Formula E Suspension & Powertrain sub-team, served as the sub-team lead for Chassis, and this year, he was a mechanical engineering capstone design member on the Aerodynamics sub-team. The Formula E team will compete this summer at the Michigan International Speedway.
“Working on every mechanical subsystem of the vehicle has given me a variety of engineering skills,” Tummalapalli said. “It’s hard to envision your role as an engineer without working on practical projects with real budgets, consequences and timelines to push you in the right direction of judgment and skill. Every single challenge and interaction on this team has helped me grow.”
With his busy schedule, Tummalapalli has found that time management is vital to balancing his classwork, hobbies and extracurricular activities.
“It’s important to start developing right out of the gate because the practice of it seeps into all of key aspects in your life,” he said.
A Lens Beyond Engineering
On weekends and evenings, Tummalapalli often has a camera in his hands and a university press pass in his pocket. He’s a sports photographer for The Battalion, the Texas A&M student news which runs as a weekly print and daily online paper.
While he’s only had his camera for two and a half years, his keen eye and gift for capturing moments on film is unmistakable. He’s photographed numerous Aggie sports, including football, men’s and women’s basketball, and club sports such as ice hockey and boxing.
Outside of The Battalion, he’s also done personal photography work ranging from offroad rally motorsports and concerts to portrait sessions. Balancing the arts with an engineering background has shaped Tummalapalli’s four years at Texas A&M.
“I’ve been able to develop my skills a lot through these organizations and my work — it’s meant building a love for hobbies and interests outside of engineering.”
Tummalapalli plans to enter the aerospace field after graduation as a dynamics engineer. He is set to join Hermeus, a startup that develops hypersonic aircraft to radically accelerate air travel. He is also in the Texas A&M Engineering Fast Track program and will remotely finish his Master of Engineering in Mechanical Engineering degree in December 2025.