Srivastava Lab

2024

• [May 2024] Divya successfully completes her Ph.D. defense. Congratulations Dr. Iyer! 

• [May 2024] Advait successfully completes his Ph.D. defense. Congratulations Dr. Holkar! 

• [May 2024] Holly presents at the annual CBE 4th Year Symposium at UCLA.

• [May 2024] Fahed presents at the BioPACIFIC MIP joint meeting between UCLA and UCSB.

• [April 2024] Sam presents seminar on Polyelectrolyte Complex/Covalent Interpenetrating Polymer Network Hydrogels at the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering in the University of Wisconsin Madison, Madison, WI

• [April 2024] Antonio and Divya co-presented their research at the 10th Anniversary CARA Science Symposium at UC Berkley. Their poster presentation entailed the discovery of high-strength polyurethane-inorganic composites for broad applications in construction materials.

• [April 2024] Marlo receives the Hosmer Stone Award from the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry for having the best grades during her first year in chemistry and biochemistry classes during the 2022-2023 year! Well-done, Marlo!

• [March 2024] Advait presents a 3-minute lightning pitch on Biomanufacturing with Protocells at the Destination Startup as part of the NSF I-Corps Hub West Showcase!

• [March 2024] Marlo joins the group as an undergraduate researcher. Welcome!

• [March 2024] Sam is selected as a fellow of Scialog: Sustainable Minerals, Metals, and Materials.

• [March 2024] Divya, Holly, Caitlyn, and Arthur present their research at the Americal Physical Society (APS) March Meeting in Minneapolis, MN.

• [February 2024] Fahed is awarded BioPACIFIC MIP Travel Grant to present his work at the APS March Meeting 2024. Congrats, Fahed!

• [February 2024] Holly is awarded BioPACIFIC MIP Travel Grant to present her work at the APS March Meeting 2024. Congrats, Holly!

• [February 2024] Fahed receives the Early Career Travel Scholarship to attend the Additive Manufacturing short course organized by DPOLY in APS March Meeting 2024. Congrats, Fahed!

• [February 2024] Antonio joins our group as a postdoctoral scholar after obtaining his Ph.D. from UCI. Welcome, Antonio!

• [February 2024] Fahed presents his research on block polyelectrolytes scaffolds for wet adhesion at the Adhesion Society Annual Meeting in Savannah, Georgia. 

• [February 2024] Our work on high strength organic-inorganic composites led by Divya and Mohammad is highlighted in the journal cover of ACS Polymer Au! 

• [February 2024] Fahed presents a poster on 3D printable block polyelectrolyte-gelatin inks during ASU Sustainable Macromolecular Materials and Manufacturing visit at the BioPACIFIC MIP at UCSB.

• [February 2024] Sam gives a presentation on 3D printable block polyelectrolyte-gelatin inks during ASU Sustainable Macromolecular Materials and Manufacturing visit at the BioPACIFIC MIP at UCSB. 

• [January 2024] Sam presents a poster on 3D printable block polyelectrolyte-gelatin inks during BioPACIFIC MIP NSF visit at UCSB. 

• [January 2024] Gayatri Patel joins our lab as a graduate researcher from the Bioengineering department after completing her B.S. from Yonsei University. Welcome Gayatri! 

• [January 2024] Undergraduate students Lyla, Emma, Julia, Gauri, and Sophia join our lab as undergraduate researchers. Welcome!

• [January 2024] Our work on the three-dimensional printing of gelatin-block polyelectrolytes biomaterial inks led by Tobias, Fahed, and Defu is accepted for publication on ACS Applied Polymer Materials. Congratulations to all the authors! 

2023 

• [December 2023] Divya attends the Meeting on End-of-Life of Plastics at IIT-Bombay and presents a poster in the Colloids session at CompFlu 2023 at IIT-Madras, India. 

• [December 2023] Advait completes the NSF's national I-Corps program for technology translational as the Entrepreneurial Lead. He attended 3 industrial conferences, visited 4 ethanol plants and conducted >100 customer interviews to evaluate product-market fit.

• [December 2023] Sam and Advait visit ethanol plants of Pratt Energy in Pratt, Conestoga in Liberal, Western Plains Energy in Oakley and Kansas Ethanol in Lyons as part of customer discovery in San Jose for the NSF's National I-Corps program. 

• [December 2023] Divya is invited by the Polymer Engineering and Colloid Science at IIT-Madras to virtually present her research on polymer circularity and sustainability.

• [December 2023] Our review on Interfacial Stabilization of Aqueous Two-Phase Systems led by Caitlyn and Zara is highlighted as a Popular Advance by Materials Advances.

• [November 2023] Divya attends the AIChE Annual Meeting, supported by the Women in Chemical Engineering travel award. She wins first place in Area 08A Excellence in  Graduate Student Research Symposium and third place in the 3 Minute Thesis competition.

• [November 2023] Holly presents her research on the self-assembly and degradation of protein-polyelectrolyte complex hydrogels at the BioPACIFIC SET 3 meeting online.

• [November 2023] Our Perspective on the Advances, Applications, and Emerging Opportunities in Electrostatic Hydrogels led by Holly is published in Langmuir [PDF]. Congrats to Holly!

• [November 2023] Members of the group hosted an interactive science booth for the second year in a row at UCLA’s largest annual STEM event, Exploring Your Universe (EYU). 

• [October 2023] Sam presents a seminar on on Polyelectrolyte Complex Scaffoldings for Wet Adhesives and 3D Bioprinting Inks at the Chemical Engineering department in the University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA. 

• [September 2023] Vihar Trada joins the group after completing his BS from UIC. Welcome, Vihar! 

• [September 2023] Divya attends the CPI Polyurethane Technical Conference 2023 in San Antonio, TX as a CPI Scholar and wins the Best Paper Award. Well deserved Divya!

• [September 2023] Our review on Interfacial Stabilization of Aqueous Two-Phase Systems led by Caitlyn and Zara is published on Materials Advances [PDF]. Congrats to Caitlyn and Zara!

• [September 2023] Fahed attends a workshop on Neutron Spin Echo at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and wins the best presentation award. Congrats Fahed!

• [August 2023] Our work on a user-friendly graphical user interface for dynamic light scattering data analysis led by undergraduate students Mathew Salazar and Harsh Srivastav appears on Soft Matter. [PDF] Congratulations to Mathew and Harsh! 

• [August 2023] Sam presents a seminar on Polyelectrolyte Complex Scaffoldings for Wet Adhesives and 3D Bioprinting Inks at the Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering department in Cornell University, Ithaca, NY.

• [August 2023] Fahed is selected as one of the winners of the TOC style figure competition at the Virtual Polymer Physics Symposium (VPPS 2023) online. 

• [August 2023] Fahed and Holly present their research on Electrostatic Hydrogels at the Virtual Polymer Physics Symposium (VPPS 2023) online. 

• [August 2023] Divya wins the ACS PMSE Eastman Chemical Award at the ACS Fall 2023 Meeting in San Francisco, CA. Congrats Divya!

• [July 2023] Sam presents on Polyelectrolyte Complex/Covalent Interpenetrating Polymer Network Hydrogels at the Polymer Physics (TSRC Workshop) in Telluride, CO.

• [July 2023] Maanasi, Orchid, and Anu join the group as undergraduate researchers. Welcome!

• [July 2023] Fahed attends and presents a poster on his research at GRC Science of Adhesion in Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, MA. 

• [July 2023] Divya presents at the XIX International Congress on Rheology in Athens, Greece.

• [July 2023] Sam participates in Structure and Dynamics of Polyelectrolyte Complex Hydrogels APS-U First Experiments Workshop at the Advanced Photon Source (APS) at Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, IL. 

• [July 2023] Caitlyn is awarded the Samantha T Mensah Award for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion by the Chemistry Department. Congrats Caitlyn! 

• [June 2023] Sam presents on Polyelectrolyte Complex Scaffoldings for Wet Adhesives and 3D Bioprinting Inks at the 34th International Conference on Science and Technology of Complex Fluids in San Luis Potosi, México. 

• [June 2023] Sam presents on Complex Coacervate Microemulsions Molecular Engineering of Soft Matter at (TSRC Workshop) in Telluride, CO. 

• [June 2023] Divya is selected to attend the Future Faculty Workshop at Texas A&M University, TX.

• [June 2023] The Srivastava Lab organizes the inaugural SoCal Polymers & Soft Matter Symposium at UCLA. The symposium, attended by over 100 scientists, included 25 technical presentations from graduate students and postdocs, in sessions chaired by faculty members from across Southern California.

• [May 2023] Sam visits Institute of Functional Interfaces (Schepers Group) and presents on Polyelectrolyte Complex Coacervates Scaffoldings for Wet Adhesives and 3D Bioprinting Inks. Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Karlsruhe, Germany. 

• [May 2023] Holly wins the Micheal E. Jung Excellence in Teaching Award from the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. Congrats Holly!

• [May 2023] Divya wins the best presentation award at the 4th year graduate students symposium at the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. Congrats Divya!

• [May 2023] Caitlyn is selected as a BioPACIFIC MIP fellow for the 2023-2024 program.

• [May 2023] Alisa completes her stint at UCLA and heads back to KIT. All the best, Alisa!

• [May 2023] Caitlyn is selected as a fellow for the Collegium of University Teaching Fellows (CUTF) program. Congrats Caitlyn!

• [April 2023] Haleema Kashif joins the group as a student in Masters of Applied Chemical Sciences (MACS). Welcome Haleema!

• [March 2023] Divya wins 1st place in the SWE-LA's Inaugural Graduate/Academia Research Symposium and is invited to present at the SWE-LA Professional Development Conference in Torrance, CA.

• [March 2023] Undergraduate students, Chad and Vanessa, present their research in the poster session at the APS March Meeting 2023 in Las Vegas, NV.

• [March 2023] Advait, Divya, Holly, Fahed, Mohammad, and Sam present their research at the APS March Meeting 2023 in Las Vegas, NV.

• [March 2023] Divya reaches the semi-final of the 2023 UCLA Grad Slam.

• [February 2023] Thomas Wakuta joins the group as a Masters student in Material Science. Welcome Thomas!

• [February 2023] Alisa Grimm joins the group as a visiting graduate student from KIT to work on biodegradable hydrogels. Welcome Alisa!

• [January 2023] Caitlyn is selected to teach through the Clusters program where she will design and teach her own course this spring.

• [January 2023] Caitlyn passes her oral exam to become a PhD candidate. Congrats Caitlyn!

• [January 2023] Our work on polyelectrolyte complex scaffolding for photocrosslinked hydrogels led by Defu appears in Molecular Systems Design & Engineering. [PDF]

2022

• [December 2022] Sam presents an invited talk at Chemcon 2022 in Kanpur, India.

• [December 2022] Our work on hybrid organic-inorganic composites based on glycolyzed polyurethane led by Divya is published in ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering. [PDF]

• [December 2022] Divya wins 1st place in the Suspensions and Colloids Poster Session at the CompFlu 2022 Conference in Kolkata, India. 

• [December 2022] Sam presents an invited talk at CompFlu 2022 in Kolkata, India.

• [December 2022] Sam presents a seminar in the Polymer Physics Seminar series at the Pennsylvania State University.

• [November 2022] Sam presents an invited talk at APS March Meeting in Pheonix. 

• [November 2022] Sam presents our research on complex coacervate microemulsions at the Gordon Research Conference (GRC) in Ventura.

• [November 2022] Advait gets nominated for the Emerging Soft Matter Excellence (ESME) Award by DSOFT and will present in the award session in the 2023 APS March Meeting. 

• [November 2022] Divya attends the NSF-EFRI Circular Economy Workshop at Arizona State University. 

• [October 2022] Sam presents a seminar in the Mechanical and Industrial Engineering in Northeastern University.

• [October 2022] Sam presents a seminar in the Program in Polymers and Soft Matter in Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 

• [October 2022] Fahed wins the best presentation award at the summer school at the Center for High Resolution Neutron Scattering organized by NIST in Gaithersburg, MD. 

• [October 2022] Sam presents a seminar in the Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering at the University of California, Riverside. 

• [October 2022] Sam presents a seminar in the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Arkansas. 

• [October 2022] Divya presents her and Vaqar's research on divalent ion-PEC systems at the Society of Rheology's Annual Meeting in Chicago. 

• [October 2022] Sam presents on stable coacervate microemulsions at the Society of Rheology's Annual Meeting in Chicago. 

• [October 2022] Divya and Mohammad present posters about their research at the ACC Polyurethanes Technical Conference in National Harbor. 

• [September 2022] Zara Khan joins the group after completing her B.Tech. from Delhi Technological University, India. Welcome Zara! 

• [September 2022] Sam presents in the Phillips 66 Seminar Series at the Chemical, Biological and Materials Engineering at the University of Oklahoma. 

• [September 2022] Sam presents a seminar in the Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering department at the University of Notre Dame.

• [September 2022] Our collaborative work with Prof. Vivek Sharma's group on the effect of salt on the structure and interaction of foam films appears in Langmuir. [PDF]

• [September 2022] Defu successfully completes his Ph.D. defense and heads to Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory as a postdoctoral researcher with Dr. Gao Liu. All the best Dr. Li!

• [August 2022] Sam attends the ACS Fall Meeting in Chicago, where he presents our group’s work on stable coacervate microemulsions in the session celebrating Matt Tirrell’s award in Colloid Chemistry. 

• [August 2022] Sam attends the International Materials Research Congress in Cancun, Mexico and presents our group’s work on PEC hydrogels and coacervate emulsions in two talks. 

• [August 2022] Vanessa was selected to the Undergraduate Research Scholars Program (URSP). Congratulations, Vanessa! 

• [July 2022] Divya attends the 24th National School on X-Ray and Neutron Scattering. 

• [July 2022] Sam attends the GRC Polymer Physics in Mount Holyoke and presents a poster on our group’s research.

• [July 2022] Shang’s work on stable complex coacervate emulsions is published in ACS Macro Letters. [PDF]

• [July 2022] Our collaborative work with Sant group on thermoresponsive polymer-mineral suspensions is published in Materials & Design. [PDF]

• [June 2022] Caitlyn joins our group as a Ph.D. student from the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. Welcome, Caitlyn! 

• [June 2022] Advait attends Brandeis Microfluidics Training Camp at Brandeis University. 

• [June 2022] Katie starts a research stint at UC Riverside. Looking forward to having you back in the Fall quarter!

• [June 2022] Defu and Tobias’ work on the polyelectrolyte Complex-covalent IPN hydrogels is published in Macromolecules. [PDF]

• [May 2022] Tina, Chad, Peter, and Lucas join us as undergraduate students for their summer stints. Welcome! 

• [April 2022] Tobias completes his postdoctoral research at KIT and joins Cesra Arzneimittel GmbH & Co., Germany.

• [April 2022] Sam presents a seminar in Chemical Engineering at UC Davis.

• [April 2022] Sam presents a virtual seminar at Dow in their DDGIS series. 

• [March 2022] Sam presents an invited talk in the ACS PMSE Young Investigator award session in the ACS Meeting in San Diego. [Link]

• [March 2022] Defu wins 1st place in the DPOLY Poster Session at the 2022 APS March Meeting in Chicago.

• [March 2022] Divya, Defu, and Advait present their research at the 2022 APS March Meeting in Chicago.

• [March 2022] Sam presents an invited talk at APS March Meeting in Chicago. 

• [Febrauary 2022] Sam presents at the Society of Adhesion meeting in San Diego.   

• [Febrauary 2022] A collaborative paper on ultrasonic and megasonic dissolution of minerals with the Bauchy group, the Simonetti group, and the Sant Group appears in J. Phys. Chem. C. [PDF]

• [Febrauary 2022] Tobias completes his hydrogels research at UCLA and heads back to KIT. All the best Tobias!

2021

• [November 2021] Our paper on the effects of ion valency on phase behavior and viscoelasticity of polyelectrolyte complexes is accepted for publication in the Journal of Polymer Science. Congrats Divya and Vaqar! This paper will appear in the Emerging Investigators Issue of the Journal, recognizing contributions from young investigators in the area of polymer science. [PDF]

• [October 2021] We receive a new grant from Mattress Recycling Council to study foam variance to inform polyurethane recycling approaches.

• [October 2021] Samanvaya presents a rapid-fire talk highlighting our group’s research in the PMSE Young Investigator and Future Faculty Speed Presentation and Social Hour.

• [October 2021] Samanvaya presents a seminar in Macromolecular Science & Engineering at Case Western Reserve University.

• [October 2021] Fahed presents his undergraduate and Master's research work on viscoelastic fingering at the Society of Rheology (SoR) in Bangor, Maine. 

• [October 2021] Divya presents her research on PU composites at the ACC CPI Polyurethane Technical Conference in Denver, Colorado. 

• [September 2021] Fernaldy joins the group. Katie and Vanessa continue with our group after completing their SURP stints.

• [September 2021] Mohammad Galadari joins the group after completing his BS from USC. Welcome, Mohammad! 

• [September 2021] Our paper on the structure of nanoparticle-polyelectrolyte complexes is published in AIChE Journal. Congrats Advait and Jesse! [PDF] This paper will appear in the Future Issue of the Journal, recognizing contributions from young investigators in chemical engineering.

• [September 2021] Katie and Vanessa presented their summer research in the Summer Undergraduate Research Program (SURP) showcase. 

• [September 2021] Matthew completes his UC-LEADS project and heads to graduate school at Caltech. Congratulations and all the best Matthew! 

• [September 2021] The group celebrates Shang's graduation during a summer-end party! 

• [August 2021] Shang successfully completes her Ph.D. defense and heads to Stanford University as postdoctoral researcher to work with Gerry Fuller and Eric Shaqfeh. Congratulations and all the best Dr. Gao!  

• [August 2021] Fahed Albreiki joins the group after completing his MS from UIC. Welcome, Fahed!

• [August 2021] Tobias Goeckler joins the group as a postdoctoral researcher after completing his Ph.D. from KIT, Germany. Welcome, Tobias!

• [August 2021] Divya presents her and Vaqar's research on the influence of divalent cations on the phase behavior and viscoelasticity of PECs at the APS Virtual Polymer Physics Symposium.

• [July 2021] Our review on Polyelectrolyte Coagulants and Flocculants in Water Treatment appears in Materials and Energy: Advances in Water Desalination Technologies. Congrats Divya and Advait! [PDF]

• [June 2021] Our paper in collaboration with the Sharma group at UIC appears in PNAS. Congrats Shang! [PDF]

• [June 2021] Samanvaya is recognized as a 2021 ACS PMSE Young Investigator.

• [June 2021] Shang, Defu, and Advait present their research in the ACS Colloid and Surface Science Symposium.

• [June 2021] Holly successfully completes her prospectus exam!

• [June 2021] Matthew, Katie, and Vanessa join us for summer research stints. Welcome!

• [June 2021] Samanvaya presents a seminar in the Center for Biological Physics at UCLA.

• [May 2021] Samanvaya presents a seminar in Chemical in Biomolecular Engineering at UCLA.

• [Apr. 2021] Samanvaya presents a seminar in Chemical Engineering at Ohio University.

• [Mar. 2021] Shang, Defu, and Advait present their research at the APS March meeting.

2020

• [Dec. 2020] Vaqar successfully completes his M.S. thesis and heads to the corporate world. Congratulations and all the best!

• [Dec. 2020] Divya successfully completes her prospectus exam, and Holly successfully completes her written qualifying exam!

• [Dec. 2020] The latest paper from Samanvaya’s postdoc research with Dr. Lu Li and Dr. Artem Rumyantsev on the effects of solvent quality on polyelectrolyte complex phase behavior appears in Macromolecules. [PDF]

• [Nov. 2020] Our group receives the NSF CAREER award. This award will support our work on multifunctional PEC hydrogels. Link

• [Nov. 2020] Holly Senebandith joins our group as a graduate student from Chemistry and Biochemistry. Welcome, Holly!

• [Nov. 2020] Our group presents three talks at the AIChE annual meeting.

• [Nov. 2020] Samanvaya presents an invited talk at the 32nd International Conference on Science and Technology of Complex Fluids.

• [Oct. 2020] Our review on SAXS Methods for Polyelectrolyte Complexes with Amanda Marciel, Jeff Ting, and Matthew Tirrell appears in Methods in Enzymology. [PDF]

• [Sept. 2020] Samanvaya is named among the newest class of 35 Under 35 Award by AIChE. Link

• [Sept. 2020] Advait and Defu successfully complete their prospectus exams!

• [Aug. 2020] Our paper on temperature effects in portlandite suspensions with the Sant Group appears in Langmuir. [PDF]

• [Aug. 2020] Samanvaya’s postdoc research with Dr. Lu Li on the effects of non-electrostatic intermolecular interactions on polyelectrolyte complex phase behavior appears in Macromolecules. [PDF]

• [Aug. 2020] Samanvaya presents an invited talk at the 3M Company.

• [Jul. 2020] Our group's first research contribution on time-ionic strength superposition in polyelectrolyte complex rheology appears in ACS Macro Letters. Congrats Vaqar! [PDF] 

• [Jul. 2020] Samanvaya’s postdoc research on PEC hydrogels appears in Macromolecules. [PDF]

• [Jun. 2020] Matthew Salazar joins our group as a UC-LEADS student from UCSB. Welcome, Matthew!

• [Jun. 2020] Xingwu Zhou graduates with MS from UCLA and heads to UMich for a Ph.D. in pharmaceutical sciences. All the best Bob!

• [May 2020] Our group receives funding from the Mattress Recycling Council to study upcycling of polyurethane foams.

• [Mar. 2020] Our paper on rheology of portlandite suspensions with the Sant Group appears in Soft Matter. [PDF]