Gupta

Why do animals have spots and stripes?

Susan Glairon — Wed, 29 Oct 2025 15:36:46 +0000

Why do animals have spots and stripes? Susan Glairon Wed, 10/29/2025 - 09:36

The Popular Science article highlights a recent study published in the journal Matter, in which Assistant Professor Ankur Gupta and his team used computer simulations to replicate the irregular patterns and textures found in tissues. Their results show that differences in cell size naturally produce uneven, broken stripe patterns.

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How animals get their spots, and why they are beautifully imperfect

Susan Glairon — Mon, 27 Oct 2025 21:24:53 +0000

How animals get their spots, and why they are beautifully imperfect Susan Glairon Mon, 10/27/2025 - 15:24

Assistant Professor Ankur Gupta, the study’s lead researcher, and his team have developed a way to simulate natural animal patterns, including their imperfections. The findings could lead to new materials that turn to camouflage on demand.

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Ankur Gupta receives prestigious 2025 Soft Matter Lectureship

Susan Glairon — Wed, 24 Sep 2025 00:36:42 +0000

Ankur Gupta receives prestigious 2025 Soft Matter Lectureship Susan Glairon Tue, 09/23/2025 - 18:36

Susan Glairon

Assistant Professor Ankur Gupta has been named the recipient of the Royal Society of Chemistry's 2025 Soft Matter Lectureship, a prestigious award recognizing outstanding early-career researchers in the field. The honor is awarded by the Soft Matter editorial board to an early-career scientist who has made significant contributions to soft matter research, selected from a pool of nominees put forward by the scientific community.

Soft matter is a branch of physics and materials science that studies materials that are easily deformed by external forces — typically lying between solid and liquid states.

Gupta is the principal director of the Laboratory of Interfaces, Flow, and Electrokinetics (LIFE) in ��ƷSM��ӰƬ's Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, where a team employs theoretical, numerical and experimental methods to study transport phenomena in electrochemical, microfluidic and biophysical systems.

Gupta’s contributions have been recognized with numerous honors, including the Chemical & Engineering News Talented 12, Johannes Lyklema Early Career Award in Electrokinetics, Air Force Young Investigator Award, AIChE 35 Under 35, Dream Chemistry Lecture, NSF CAREER Award, Soft Matter Emerging Investigator Award and the Graduates of the Last Decade (GOLD) Award from IIT Delhi.

��ƷSM��ӰƬ's Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering is one of only two institutions — along with MIT — to have two recipients of the Soft Matter Lectureship. Professor Tim White received the honor in 2019.

Read about Gupta's scientific journey in Soft Matter's Q&A

Adding to a growing list of honors, Assistant Professor Ankur Gupta has been awarded the Royal Society of Chemistry’s 2025 Soft Matter Lectureship — a prestigious recognition of outstanding early-career researchers in the field.

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Ankur Gupta named to C&EN’s prestigious "Talented 12" list

Susan Glairon — Fri, 23 May 2025 14:22:09 +0000

Ankur Gupta named to C&EN’s prestigious "Talented 12" list Susan Glairon Fri, 05/23/2025 - 08:22

Assistant Professor Ankur Gupta was named to Chemical & Engineering News' prestigious Talented 12 list, which honors early-career scientists who use their chemistry know-how to make a real-world impact.

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ChBE faculty earn Air Force Young Investigator Award

Susan Glairon — Thu, 27 Mar 2025 21:52:51 +0000

ChBE faculty earn Air Force Young Investigator Award Susan Glairon Thu, 03/27/2025 - 15:52

Susan Glairon

Assistant Professors Kōnane Bay and Ankur Gupta from ��ƷSM��ӰƬ’s Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering have been honored with the 2025 Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) Young Investigator Program Award.

Each received a $450,000, three-year grant to advance research relevant to the Air Force. The program, offered by the Air Force Research Laboratory, supports early-career scientists and engineers with “exceptional ability and promise for conducting basic research,” according to the AFOSR.

“This is among the most prestigious awards given to junior faculty, and to have both Ankur and Kōnane receive it in the same year is a remarkable testimony to their impressive achievements and very high potential for making future advances,” said Professor Ryan Hayward, chair of the department.

Kōnane Bay, self-healing, innovative materials

Bay says the next generation of polymer materials—materials with long chains of molecules like plastics, rubber and proteins—will need advanced features, such as the ability to repair themselves. While engineering synthetic polymers with these properties is challenging, biofilm-forming bacteria are promising as they use internal material factories to produce polymers on demand to survive changes in the surroundings.

“I am grateful to receive this award which will allow our lab to harness nature to create novel engineered living materials,” Bay said.

The award will support Bay and her team at the Huli Materials Lab in using biofilm-forming bacteria to develop new polymeric materials. The project combines 3D printing with bacteria’s natural movement to control the mechanical properties of biofilm-based synthetic polymers. The findings could lead to self-healing materials that can change shape, with applications in aerospace, soft robotics, and protective coatings.

Bay recently also received a prestigious CAREER Award, a $675,000, five-year grant from the National Science Foundation. The funding will advance her work in characterization of polymer thin film.

Ankur Gupta, more precise chemical sensors

Imagine being able to organize tiny particles as small as one-twentieth the thickness of a human hair.

Gupta’s research aims to do just that. He and his team in the Laboratory of Interfaces, Flow and Electrokinetics (LIFE) study how these tiny particles form patterns through chemical reactions and diffusion. The researchers aim to control this process to develop materials that detect microscopic changes in the air, paving the way for advanced chemical sensors that identify subtle chemical shifts and improve safety.

“It’s an honor for us to receive this award, especially given its prestige and selectivity,” Gupta said. “This recognition is a testament to the hard work of my current and past group members, and I am grateful for the opportunity to work with them.”

The $450,000 three-year grant will support a graduate student and cover travel expenses.

In 2024, Gupta was honored with the Johannes Lyklema Early Career Award in electrokinetics. He was also selected for the prestigious “35 Under 35” award from the American Institute of Chemical Engineers in 2023.

That same year Gupta also received a $517,000, five-year National Science Foundation CAREER Award, to study how ions move through porous materials. His research will help design improved porous materials for more efficient desalination and renewable energy storage.

Assistant Professors Kōnane Bay and Ankur Gupta from ��ƷSM��ӰƬ’s Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering each received a $450,000, three-year grant to advance research relevant to the Air Force.

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How the tiger really got his stripes

Susan Glairon — Thu, 06 Feb 2025 15:53:35 +0000

How the tiger really got his stripes Susan Glairon Thu, 02/06/2025 - 08:53

Assistant Professor Ankur Gupta’s research on diffusiophoresis, where smaller particles move through a fluid, dragging larger particles with them, helps explain how this process may create clear biological patterns in nature, such as those seen on fish or a tiger's stripes.

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Ankur Gupta wins inaugural Johannes Lyklema Early Career Award in electrokinetics

Anonymous — Thu, 25 Jul 2024 19:33:05 +0000

Ankur Gupta wins inaugural Johannes Lyklema Early Career Award in electrokinetics Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 07/25/2024 - 13:33

Assistant Professor Ankur Gupta has been selected as the winner of the inaugural Johannes Lyklema Early Career Award in Electrokinetics, given by the International Electrokinetics Society.

Electrokinetics, which focuses on the study of the movement of particles, ions, or fluids under the influence of an electric field or chemical gradients, has applications in energy storage, environmental technologies and microfluidic devices.

Gupta was given the award for his contribution towards "new insights in diffusiophoresis, including links to Turing patterns, and charge transport in porous energy systems."

"I am honored to receive this award," Gupta said. "It is heartening to be recognized by the electrokinetics community. I would like to thank all the students and postdocs in the group for their hard work, which made this award possible, and extend my gratitude to the mentors and colleagues who nominated me for the award."

The award will be presented on Sept. 18 at the ELKIN meeting in Sevilla, Spain, and as part of that honor, Gupta will give a lecture. In addition to the honorary talk, Gupta will deliver a lecture about the research developed by his ��ƷSM��ӰƬ group, the Laboratory of Interfaces, Flow and Electrokinectics.

Johannes Lyklema, the award's namesake, was a passionate supporter of young scientists in the electrokinetics field.

Assistant Professor Ankur Gupta has been selected as the winner of the inaugural Johannes Lyklema Early Career Award in Electrokinetics, given by the International Electrokinetics Society.

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Popular Mechanics: Supercapacitors Are About To Blow Past Batteries as the Kings of Power

Anonymous — Mon, 10 Jun 2024 19:26:03 +0000

Popular Mechanics: Supercapacitors Are About To Blow Past Batteries as the Kings of Power Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 06/10/2024 - 13:26

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Chemical & Engineering News: The rules of the road for ions

Anonymous — Mon, 03 Jun 2024 19:22:26 +0000

Chemical & Engineering News: The rules of the road for ions Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 06/03/2024 - 13:22

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The Conversation: Understanding how ions flow in, out of tiniest pores promises better energy storage devices

Anonymous — Thu, 30 May 2024 17:13:15 +0000

The Conversation: Understanding how ions flow in, out of tiniest pores promises better energy storage devices Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 05/30/2024 - 11:13

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