PCCP Recognizes Das as Emerging Investigator

Awards and Recognition

For the second consecutive year, the international journal Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics (PCCP) has selected associate professor Siddhartha Das of the University of Maryland’s mechanical engineering department for its annual Emerging Investigators themed issue.

The journal inaugurated this series of themed issues in 2020. The first installment included a study by Das on polyelectrolyte brushes in large salt concentrations.

In that paper, Das and his collaborators presented a theory that describes the thermodynamics, configuration, and electrostatics of such brushes. These properties are encountered regularly in molecular scale simulations but had not yet been adequately theorized.

Das will submit a new study for the second Emerging Investigators issue, to be published later this year.

Inclusion in the PCCP themed issue is significant because its purpose is to identify top researchers working in the intersection between physics and chemistry, Das said. The PCCP is considered one of the leading international journals in the field.

The recognition also bears testament to the UMD mechanical engineering department’s practice of encouraging its faculty to explore cross-disciplinary research, he said. “Compared to other mechanical engineering programs across the globe, our department provides an extraordinary level of flexibility,” Das said. “Just as importantly, we have a strong pool of graduate researchers who can support this kind of work.”

A faculty member at UMD since 2014, Das conducts research across many different areas in micro-nanoscale fluid mechanics and additive manufacturing. He has received significant recognition for his work, including fellowships in the Royal Society of Chemistry and the Institute of Physics.

The mechanical engineering department is part of the A. James Clark School of Engineering at UMD.

Published March 30, 2021