Nikhil received M.S. in Physics from Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay and Ph.D in Physics from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst with Prof. Mark Tuominen. His graduate studies at the cellular level revealed that living cells show high electronic conductivity as well as large electron storage capacity due to extracellular proteins. His post-doctoral studies at the molecular level with Prof. Derek Lovley in the Microbiology department identified the protein architecture responsible for the conductivity.