Dr. Kausik Mukhopadhyay
PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR & GROUP LEADER
Dr. Kausik Mukhopadhyay received his B.S. and M.S. degrees in Chemistry from University of Calcutta (India) and his PhD in Chemistry from National Chemical Laboratory, Pune (India). He worked with Prof. Tom Pinnavaia’s at the Michigan State University and with Prof. Sherine Obare at the University of North Carolina for his postdoctoral studies. Thereafter, he joined industry and worked on multidisciplinary projects funded by the DOD Army, Office of Naval Research, Air Force, CBD, NASA, OSD, and DoE – for which he was the principal investigator.
Dr. Mukhopadhyay directs the Hybrid Materials Laboratory in the MSE department, where his team of young researchers are engaged in studying materials, chemistry, biology, and engineering to develop solutions for multitude of exciting research problems related to surface, coatings, films, electrochemistry (batteries and corrosion), sensors, heterogeneous catalysis and hemostatic-burn wound bandage systems for military medicine. He has spearheaded projects funded by the Department of Homeland Security, FEMA, FSRP and NASA at UCF. Dr. Mukhopadhyay is the MSE Undergraduate Lab Director and MSE representative for UCF Undergraduate Research Council for promoting undergraduate research. He is a member of the American Chemical Society, Materials Research Society, International Zeolite Association, Electrochemical Society and American Ceramic Society and Society for Biomaterials.
Google Scholar : https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=J0AU2TIAAAAJ
Pritha Sarkar
POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCHER
Pritha is a postdoctoral scholar in the MSE Department at UCF. She received her Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering from UCF. She completed her undergrad in Metallurgy and Materials Engineering from the Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology. She is currently working on developing polymeric systems for hemostasis and wound healing. Outside the lab, her hobbies include linguistics, art, and cooking.
Md Roxy Islam
Phd student
Roxy is a Ph.D. student at the UCF MSE Department. He attended Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) for his undergraduate studies and master’s degrees in Materials and Metallurgical engineering. He is now researching hybrid clay-based materials for use in batteries.
mdroxy.islam@ucf.edu
Amanda Gabriela Bernard
Phd student
Eshika Mahanty
PHD STUDENT
Eshika is a PhD student in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, UCF. She has earned her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Chemistry from Sidho-Kanho-Birsha University in India. She is currently working on clay membranes for sustainable Li-ion batteries. Apart from research, her hobbies include reading books on Advait Vedanta, spirituality in daily life, and self-awareness, as well as cooking. eshika.mahanty@ucf.edu
Naomi Chiou
UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCHER
Naomi is an undergraduate student in the UCF Burnett Honors College. She is majoring in Materials Science and Engineering with a minor in Biology. Outside of studying, she enjoys reading, drawing and ballet.
na536480@ucf.edu
Denee' Lichtenburg
PHD STUDENT
Jeonghyun Song
Undergraduate Researcher
Jeonghyun is an undergraduate student majoring in Materials Science and Engineering at UCF. He is currently working on clay derived anodes for lithium-ion batteries. Outside of research, he enjoys pottery, cooking, and playing video games.
Alumni
- Malisha Islam Tapotee (Received MS in summer 26)
- Disha Iyengar (Received BS in spring 26)
- Daniel Cuevas Ortiz (Undergraduate Researcher from Universidad de Cantabaria, Spain)
- Kathia Serrano Perez (Visiting Researcher from Chemical Engineering at Yale)
- Anya Shah (High School Researcher)
- Suvash Ghimire (Postdoctoral Researcher, 2024)- Received Ph.D. in summer 2024 from our lab
- Dr. Priyanka Makkar (Postdoctoral Researcher 2023-2024)
- Sofia Garneri (Second year Chem Engg, Notre Dame) as an NSF REU Researcher for Summer 2024
- Lilian Hoang (Undergraduate Researcher)
- Aayna Bhatheja (Highschool Researcher)
- Alexandre Bonnin (Graduate Intern)
- Philippe Andre (Undergraduate Researcher)
- Sergey Vlasov (Undergraduate Researcher)
- Ryan Wood (Undergraduate Researcher)
- Dr. Varchaswal Kashyap (Postdoctoral Researcher 2021 – 2022)
- Kasey Rigby (Undergraduate Researcher) – Pursuing medicine at UCF Medical School
- Annika Vaidyanathan (High School Researcher) – Enrolled in Mechanical Engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology