News
July 24-29, 2022: Prof. Sanat Kumar will be chairing the 2022 Gordon Research Conference on Polymer Physics in South Hadley, MA. Program is here.May 25, 2022: Nico passes his PhD thesis proposal defense.
May 17, 2022: Husam successfully defends his thesis titled "Compatibilization of Immiscible Polymer Blends Using Polymer-Grafted Nanoparticles." Congratulations to Dr. Alkhodairi!
May 5, 2022: Abdullah successfully defends his thesis titled "Crystallization Kinetics of Semicrystalline Polymer Nanocomposites: Morphology–Property Relationship." Congratulations to Dr. Altorbaq!
May 4, 2022: Tejus passes his PhD thesis proposal defense.
November 2021: We welcome Beatrice Bellini, William Marshall, and Raghavendra Nimiwal to the group as our newest PhD students.
October 15, 2021: Prof. Sanat Kumar is named the recipient of the 2022 APS Polymer Physics Prize.
March 26, 2021: We look forward to our virtual departmental open house today for admitted PhD students!
November 5, 2020: We welcome Tejus Shastry and Nico Mendez to the group!
June 9, 2020: We will observe #ShutDownSTEM tomorrow in solidarity with our most marginalized and oppressed communities. We support all faculty, staff, and students, regardless of race, gender, and sexual orientation. But tomorrow we will honor those fighting against racial injustice with a day of reflection and education. #BlackLivesMatter
Regarding COVID-19: We extend our sympathy to the people of NYC and to everyone affected around the world by the coronavirus pandemic. We are trying to continue our work within all of the given constraints - life must go on.
March 2020: Prof. Sanat Kumar gives a talk at Columbia University, Department of Chemical Engineering.
February 2020: Prof. Sanat Kumar gives a talk at the Pennsylvania State University, Department of Chemical Engineering.
February 2020: Prof. Sanat Kumar gives a talk at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, Department of Chemical Engineering.
January 2020: Prof. Sanat Kumar gives a talk at the Indian Institute of Technology in Mumbai.
December 2019 - January 2020: Prof. Sanat Kumar is the Chevron Visiting Professor at IIT Madras.
December 2019: Prof. Sanat Kumar gives a talk at the Indian Institute of Science in the Bengaluru, Vijyoshi Camp titled, “Inspiring 600 High Schools Students towards STEM Research.”
October 29, 2019: Sebastian successfully defends his thesis titled "The synthesis, characterization, and electrochemical analysis of structured polymer electrolytes having strong ionic interactions." Congratulations to Dr. Russell!
October 2019: Prof. Sanat Kumar gives a talk at the National Chemical Laboratory in Pune, India.
October 2019: Prof. Sanat Kumar gives a talk at the Glass Meeting at Princeton University titled, “Analogy between phase transitions and glass transitions in thin polymer films.”
October 2019: Prof. Sanat Kumar gives a talk at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering.
October 2019: Prof. Sanat Kumar gives a talk at the University of Rhode Island, Department of Chemical Engineering.
October 2019: Prof. Sanat Kumar gives a talk at the CINT Annual Meeting at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, NM.
October 2019: We welcome Marshall Tekell to the group as our newest PhD student.
October 2019: We welcome Beatrice Bellini from the University of Bologna. She will be doing research with us as part of her Masters thesis.
July 2019: Prof. Sanat Kumar gives a talk at the Polymer Processing Symposium in Beijing, China.
July 2019: Prof. Sanat Kumar gives an invited tutorial on "Polymer Nanocomposites."
June 2019: Prof. Sanat Kumar is hosted by the University of the Basque Country in San Sebastian.
May 2019: Prof. Sanat Kumar is hosted by the University of Crete.
April 2019: Prof. Sanat Kumar is hosted by Università di Bologna as an Invited University Professor.
April 2019: Prof. Sanat Kumar gives a talk at the University of Crete.
April 2019: Prof. Sanat Kumar gives a talk at the Gordon Conference on "Self Assembly" in Lausanne, Switzerland.
April 2019: Prof. Sanat Kumar gives a talk at the German Physical Society in Regensburg, Germany.
March 2019: Prof. Sanat Kumar gives a talk at the Laboratoire Léon Brillouin (Commissariat à l'Energie Atomique).
March 2019: Prof. Sanat Kumar gives an invited seminar at ESPCI in Paris, France.
March 2019: Prof. Sanat Kumar gives a talk at Michelin Corporation in Clermont-Ferrand (Paris, France).
February 2019 - March 2019: Prof. Sanat Kumar is hosted by ESPCI Paris as the Michelin Chair Professor.
February 1, 2019: Connor successfully defends his thesis titled "Polymer-Grafted Nanoparticle Membranes: A Platform for Advanced, Tunable Mixed-Matrix Materials." Congratulations to Dr. Bilchak!
January 2019: Prof. Sanat Kumar gives 6 lectures on "Polymer Physics" and a mini-symposium on "Soft Matter" at IIT Madras.
December 2018 - January 2019: Prof. Sanat Kumar is hosted by IIT Madras as the Chevron Professor of Chemical Engineering.
December 2018: Prof. Sanat Kumar gives a talk at the CompFlu meeting in Roorkee, India.
October 2018: We welcome Deboleena Dhara and Robbie Tannenbaum to the group as our newest PhD students.
October 15, 2018: Another great and successful soft matter seminar with Prof. Mitsuhiro Shibayama from the University of Tokyo.
October 11, 2018:Prof. Sanat Kumar gives a seminar titled "Polymer-Grafted Nanoparticle Membranes with Controllable Free-Volume" as part of the Physical Chemistry seminar series at the University of Pennsylvania.
October 2018:Prof. Sanat Kumar gives a seminar at Drexel University.
October 2018: Prof. Sanat Kumar is hosted at the University of Pennsylvania by Prof. Zahra Fakhraai and Prof. Rob Riggleman.
September 24-26, 2018: Prof. Sanat Kumar presents at the "Collective behavior of soft and active matter under confinement" workshop at CECAM in Mainz, Germany.
September 20-23, 2018: Prof. Sanat Kumar presents at the 2nd International Conference of Molecular Engineering of Polymers in Shanghai, China.
September 17-19, 2018: Prof. Sanat Kumar gives three lectures at the ICTS Entropy, Information, and Order in Soft Matter Workshop in Bangalore, India.
September 17, 2018: We officially welcome Michael Leaf to the group as a postdoctoral researcher. Michael received his PhD from UMass Amherst.
September 7, 2018: Abdullah, Alejandro, Husam, and Sophia pass their PhD qualifier exam.
September 5, 2018: Prof. Sanat Kumar is invited to give a seminar at Virginia Tech's Macromolecules Innovation Institute.
August 15, 2018: Prof. Santanu Kundu, from MSU's Chemical Engineering Department, joins us at Columbia for his sabbatical this fall.
August 6, 2018: We officially welcome Lisa Tran to Columbia who will be working with both the Kumar and Bishop research groups.
July 30, 2018: Prof. Sanat Kumar, Connor and Sebastian attend the Gordon Research Conference on Polymer Physics.
July 2018: Prof. Sanat Kumar gives an invited talk at the Polymer Physics conference in Xian, China.
June 11, 2018: Prof. Sanat Kumar attends the Polymer Physics conference in Xi'an, China.
June 7, 2018: Ellie, or rather Dr. Buenning, successfully defends her thesis on "Controllable Free-Volume in Polymer-Grafted Nanoparticle Membranes."
May 30, 2018: Prof. Sanat Kumar is invited to the iPrime meeting at the Univeristy of Minnesota to give a talk on "Polymer Grafted Nanoparticle Based Membranes".
May 16, 2018: Rajat Chandra graduates with his B.S. in Chemical Engineering as Columbia SEAS 2018 salutatorian.
April 16, 2018: Hamed Emamy joins the group as a postdoctoral researcher. Hamed received his PhD from Wesleyan University.
April 12, 2018: Prof. Sanat Kumar is invited to CalTech to give talks on "Polymer Grafted Nanoparticles".
April 5,2018: Prof. Sanat Kumar hosts a "Functional Polymers" workshop in San Sebastian, Spain.
March 28, 2018: Prof. Sanat Kumar is invited to both St. Stephens College and IIT Delhi to give talks on "Polymer Grafted Nanoparticles".
March 5, 2018: Prof. Sanat Kumar Chairs the Polymer Division at APS March Meeting in Los Angeles.
March 5, 2018: Andrew, Connor, Ellie, Sebastian, and Wes present talks at APS March Meeting.
February 15, 2018: Prof. Sanat Kumar gives a seminar talk at Clemson's Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering.
January 24, 2018: Prof. Sanat Kumar gives a seminar talk at Northwestern's Materials Science and Engineering department.
January 10, 2018: Dr. Paul Share visits from BASF to start a collaborative project with the group, headed by Dong An.
December 14, 2017: Clement passes his first year qualifier examination.
December 12, 2017: Lisa Tran is recommended for appointment as a Junior Fellow in the Simons Society of Fellows, a community of scholars created to encourage intellectual interactions across disciplines and across research centers in New York City. She will be joining the group as a postdoctoral researcher in the spring.
October 22, 2017: Ellie presents talks at both AIChE and SOR for her work on grafted polymer nanocomposite rheology.
October 13, 2017: Prof. Sanat Kumar speaks at Stefano Sacanna's mini-symposium "Nanofabrication by Self-Assembly: A Bottom-Up Approach to Material Design."
September 16, 2017: Thi succussfully defends his thesis on "Hierarchical Modeling and Design of Corona Driven DNA-Mediated Self-Assembly".
September 16, 2017: Mayank passes his first year qualifier examination.
June 26, 2017: Prof. Sanat Kumar attends the TSC Polymer Physics workshop.
May 16, 2017: Andrew passes his thesis proposal to study the Effects of Particle Mobility on Isothermally Crystallizing Anisotropic Structures
May 5, 2017: Connor and Sebastian present their Third Year Talks for the department
March 28, 2017: Prof. Sanat Kumar gives a seminar talk for Columbia's own Chemical Engineering Department
March 13, 2017: Prof. Sanat Kumar gives an invited talk at the APS March Meeting
March 13-17, 2017: Thi, Sebastian, Connor, Andrew, Kai, and Vianney present talks at the APS March Meeting in New Orleans
February 22, 2017: Prof. Sanat Kumar visits Rutgers University's Materials Science and Engineering Department to give an invited talk
January 17, 2017: Mayank Misra successfully defends his thesis
October 25, 2016: Dean Mary C. Boyce, Columbia Engineering, and The Department of Chemical Engineering proudly announce the appointment of Sanat Kumar as Bykhovsky Professor of Chemical Engineering.
September 09, 2016: Andrew Jimenez passes his qualifier examination
August 25, 2016: Dan Zhao successfully defends his thesis
July 29, 2016: Sanat Kumar is elected as Chair for the Polymer Physics GRC in 2020
July 25, 2016: Thi and Mayank present their work in Polymer Physics GRC, 2016
June 27, 2016: John Huddleston and Isabel Kronenberg join the group for the summer
June 24, 2016: Florian Muller-Plathe visits the group
June 10, 2016: Connor Bilchak successfully defends his thesis proposal
March 29, 2016: Ellie Buenning and Mayank Misra present their research to the department in 3rd-year Seminar
March 29, 2016: Sebastian Russell receives honorable mention in NSF Graduate Research Fellowships Program
March 29,2016: Connor Bilchak awarded NSF Graduate Research Fellowships Program
October 19, 2015: Ravi Jagadeeshan from Monash University visited the group
October 7, 2015: Gianna Credaroli joined the group
October 7, 2015: Andrew Jimenez joined the group
September 20, 2015: Dr. Prasad Bhagavatula from NCL, Pune worked with the group for a week
September 11, 2015: Sebastian Russell passed Ph.D. qualifier exam
September 11, 2015: Connor Bilchak passed Ph.D. qualifier exam