Amit Chakrabarti Named the KSU Distinguished Graduate Faculty of 2009-10 

Dr. Amit Chakrabarti has been honored with the KSU Distinguished Graduate Faculty award for 2009-10.  The Distinguished Graduate Faculty Award is made annually to those faculty who have distinguished themselves nationally and internationally for excellence in research and graduate education. Normally, up to two faculty are selected annually by a group of faculty peers. Recipients receive an honorarium and deliver a public lecture following selection for this award.

Amit Chakrabarti is a theoretical physicist with broad ranging abilities in soft matter and statistical physics. He has worked on diverse soft-matter systems ranging from liquid mixtures, polymers, liquid crystals, aerosols, colloids, and nanoparticles, to more recently on self-assembly of proteins. During the last 20 years at Kansas State University, Chakrabarti has published over 100 peer reviewed papers and trained 8 PhD students in physics. To support his research, Chakrabarti has obtained, in collaboration with other K-State faculty members such as Chris Sorensen, Bruce Law and Ken Klabunde, several million dollars in extramural funding from agencies such as NASA and the National Science Foundation.

Amit Chakrabarti's research is curiosity-driven and has this main theme: how do particles in a dispersed phase come together and form aggregates? From a broad perspective, the “particles” can be atoms, ions, or molecules, as well as colloidal particles, aerosols, nanoparticles, or proteins, and the "aggregate" can be precipitated crystalline solids from solutions, fractal aggregates, or bundles and fibrils in protein self-assembly. What starts out as a pure intellectual endeavor can lead to understanding of systems that can be applied to better human life. For example, in collaboration with Professor Chris Sorensen of Physics, Chakrabarti is theoretically modeling aerosol gelation or "frozen smoke", a process that leads to ultra low density solid materials. In another collaboration with Professor Jim Gunton of Lehigh University, Chakrabarti is trying to theoretically understand how insulin crystals form from aqueous solutions. Insulin is an important drug in the treatment of diabetes; understanding the process of microcrystal formation is of importance in drug delivery. Another project of current interest is fiber formation in sickle cell hemoglobin. Sickle hemoglobin is the mutant form of hemoglobin responsible for sickle cell anemia. Self-assembly of sickle hemoglobin into a metastable polymer bundle state is thought to be the crucial agent in the development of sickle cell anemia. Chakrabarti uses computer simulations of model systems to understand such self-assembly processes.

In 2009 he received 2009 Commerce Bank Distinguished Graduate Faculty Award, which recognizes quality research and advising of graduate students. In addition to his work in research and graduate education, Chakrabarti has been an influential and popular teacher at the undergraduate level.  He was instrumental in designing and delivering the studio-based Engineering Physics course which was developed about 10 years ago and has significantly improved student learning. For his efforts at the undergraduate level he  received the KSU Presidential Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching in 2002, and is a two-time recipient of the Stamey Award for Teaching Excellence from the College of Arts and Sciences.

Chakrabarti joined the K-State faculty in 1990 and was named a full professor in 2000.