Dr. Kumar joins Chemical Engineering
12/04/2006
Professor Sanat K. Kumar has been a professor of materials science and chemical engineering at Pennsylvania State University and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He focuses his research on complex fluids, concentrating on novel uses of synthetic polymer-based materials, including polymer nanocomposites and polymers used in fuel cells; biopolymer systems, working on self-assembly of proteins and developing better methods for separating biological macromolecules; and systems with ultra-slow dynamics, particularly glass and reversibly gelling materials such as gelatin.
“While these themes overlap in some research projects,” he said, “we are always guided by applications and by the need to establish their fundamental underpinnings.” Professor Kumar is collaborating with several faculty members in SEAS and in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, as well as with a broad range of researchers at other academic institutions and industrial research laboratories.
A graduate of the Indian Institute of Technology, Prof. Kumar received the D.Sc. degree from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.