Ashutosh Sharma Institute Chair Professor & Ranjit Singh Endowed Chair Professor & Coordinator, DST Unit on Nanoscience   Ph.D., Chemical Engineering, State University of New York at Buffalo, 1987 M.S., Chemical Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University, 1984. B.Tech., Chemical Engineering, IIT Kanpur, 1982. Research Scientist, Department of Ophthalmology, School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, State University of New York at Buffalo, 1987- 1990.   Phone: 91-512-2597026                   email: ashutos[AT]iitk.ac.in

Publications Collaborators Conferences Current Research Laboratory Service

Research Interests

• Mechanics and instabilities of soft visco-elastic interfaces, thin films and nano-systems

• Self-organized meso-patterning of polymers, ceramics, hydrogels and carbon

• Interfacial and colloidal interactions

• Wetting and adhesion

• Smart and functional materials: adhesives, catalytic, optical, super-hydrophobic and nano-composites

• Biosurfaces: surface chemistry of cornea and tear film; cell adhesion

• Interfaces in membranes and microfluidics

Honours and Awards

• The TWAS Prize in Engineering Sciences, TWAS, The Academy of Sciences for the Developing World, Trieste, Italy (2008).
• Distinguished Alumnus Award, Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur (2007)
• Institute Chair Professor, Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur (2007-date)
• Elected Fellow, Indian National Science Academy (or http://www.insa.ac.in/html/home.asp)
• Elected Fellow, Indian National Academy of Engineering
• Elected Fellow, Indian Academy of Sciences
• Elected Fellow, National Academy of Sciences, India
• Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize in Engineering Sciences (2002)
• J. C. Bose National Fellowship, Department of Science & Technology (2006-date)
• Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel Research Award, Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (2006)
• RPG Life Science Padma Vibhushan Professor M M Sharma Medal and Chemcon Distinguished Speaker Award of the Indian Institute of Chemical Engineers (2006)
• Member of Editorial Board, Chemical Engineering Science (2007-2010)
• Member of Editorial Advisory Board, Canadian Journal of Chemical Engineering (2006-2007)
• Member of Editorial Board, Indian Chemical Engineer (Journal of the Indian Institute of Chemical Engineers; 2006-)
• Member of Editorial Advisory Board, Journal of Colloid and Interface Science (2000-2002)
• Herdillia Award of the Indian Institute of Chemical Engineers for excellence in basic research (2003)

Other Awards

Selected Recent Publications

• N. Arun, Ashutosh Sharma, Partho S., G. Pattader, Indrani Banerjee, Hemant M. Dixit and K. S. Narayan, Electric-Field-Induced Patterns in Soft Viscoelastic Films: From LongWaves of Viscous Liquids to ShortWaves of Elastic Solids, Phys. Rev. Lett. 102, 254502 (2009).
• R. Mukherjee, D. Bandyopadhyay and A. Sharma, Control of morphology in pattern directed dewetting of thin polymer films, Soft Matter 4, 2086-2097 (2008).
• J. Sarkar, A. Sharma and V. Shenoy, Electric field induced instabilities and morphological phase transitions in soft elastic films, Phys. Rev. E  77, 031604 (2008).
• M. M. Kulkarni, R. Bandyopadhyaya and A. Sharma, Janus silica film with hydrophobic and hydrophilic surfaces grown at oil-water interface, J. Materials Chem. 18, 1021-1028 (2008).
• Abhijit Majumder, Animangsu Ghatak and Ashutosh Sharma, Microfluidic Adhesion Induced by Sub-surface Micro-structures, Science, 318, 258-261,(2007). [Perspectives]
[MEDIA REPORTS]
• Das A. L., Katiyer V., Mukherjee R., Kulkarni M., Ghatak A. and Sharma A., Pattern miniaturization using hydrogel, Adv. Mat. DOI: 10.1002/adma.200602681 (2007).
• Arun N., Sharma A., Shenoy V. and Narayan K. S., Electric field controlled surface instabilities in soft elastic films, Adv. Materials 18, 660-663 (2006).
• Gonuguntala M., Sharma A., Sarkar J., Subramanian S. A., Ghosh M. and V. Shenoy, Contact Instability in adhesion and debonding of thin elastic films, Phys. Rev. Lett. 97, 018303 (2006).
• Verma R., Sharma A., Kargupta K. and Bhaumik J., Electric field induced instability and pattern formation in thin liquid films, Langmuir 21, 3710-3721 (2005).
• Sarkar J., Shenoy V. and Sharma A., Patterns, forces and metastable pathways in debonding of elastic films, Phys. Rev. Lett. 93, 018302 (2004). Also a selected paper in Virtual Journal of Nanoscale Science and Nanotechnology 10 (2), 2004.
• Sharma A. and Mittal J., Instability of thin liquid films induced by density variations: a new mechanism that mimics spinodal dewetting, Phys. Rev. Lett. 89, 186101 (2002).
• Shenoy V. and Sharma A., Dewetting of glassy polymer films, Phys. Rev. Lett. 88, 236101 (2002).
• Reiter G. and Sharma A., Auto-optimization of dewetting rates by rim instabilities in slipping polymer films, Phys. Rev. Lett. 87, 166103 (2001).
• Kargupta K. and Sharma A., Templeting of thin films induced by dewetting on patterned surfaces, Phys. Rev. Lett. 86, 4536-4539 (2001).
• Shenoy V. and Sharma A., Pattern formation in a thin solid film with interactions, Phys. Rev. Lett. 86, 119-122(2001).
• Ghatak A., Chaudhury M., Shenoy V. and Sharma A., Meniscus instability in confined thin elastic films, Phys. Rev. Lett. 85, 4329-4332 (2000).
• Reiter G., Khanna R. and Sharma A., Enhanced instability in thin liquid films by improved compatibility, Phys. Rev. Lett. 85, 1432-1435 (2000).
• Konnur R., Kargupta K. and Sharma A., Instability and morphology of thin liquid films on chemically heterogeneous substrates, Phys. Rev. Lett. 84, 931-934 (2000).