Srivastava Lab

Samanvaya Srivastava

B.S. and M.S., Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur

Ph.D., Chemical Engineering, Cornell University

Postdoc, Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering, University of Chicago

Samanvaya is an Assistant Professor in the Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at UCLA. He completed his undergraduate and masters work from the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur and his PhD with Lynden Archer from Cornell University, all in Chemical Engineering. Before coming to UCLA, he was a postdoctoral scholar with Matthew Tirrell at the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering in the University of Chicago.

Samanvaya's research interests are in understanding the influence of intermolecular interactions on material structure and properties, with a broader aim to combine this fundamental understanding with molecular engineering and self-assembly processes to improve materials design. Samanvaya has received various awards, including the Austin Hooey Graduate Research Excellence Recognition Award at Cornell University (2013), the RSC Researcher Mobility Grant (2017), AIChE 35 under 35 (2020) and the NSF CAREER award (2020).

samsri<at>ucla<dot>edu

Department website CV Google Scholar

B. Kollbe Ahn

Ph.D., Kansas State University

Postdoc, University of California Santa Barbara

Before joining UCLA, Kollbe was a faculty member at UCSB and UCF, and has recently left his tenure-track professor position to focus on his roles at several companies located in the greater LA area as CEO, Board of Directors and Advisory Board member. He has managed several millions of dollars of multiple government/industrial R&D funds as PI, and authored numerous high-profile publications (e.g., Nature Materials, JACS, and Science) in the field of surface science and biomaterials. He is currently affiliated with UCLA and UCSB, and maintains his academic activities. His research interest is to translate the chemistry of biological organisms to synthetic materials for biomedical applications.

Shang Gao

B.S., Chemical Engineering, Dalian University of Technology

Shang is a graduate student in the Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering at UCLA. As an undergraduate, she worked on electrocatalysts, including novel-metal based materials (Pt) and carbon-based materials (Fe/Co/Ni-N-C) facilitating in ORR/OER/HER applications as well as fuel cells. In her spare time, she enjoys traveling, hiking, and cooking.

gshang<at>g<dot>ucla<dot>edu

Defu Li

B.S., Chemical Engineering, UCLA

Defu is a graduate student in the department of chemical and biomolecular engineering. His previous researches are focused on proton-exchange membrane fuel cell, synthesis of nanoscale materials, and energy conversion materials. He enjoys doing exercise and traveling.

lidefu520<at>g<dot>ucla<dot>edu

Advait Holkar

B.Tech., Chemical Engineering, IIT Delhi

Advait is a graduate student in the Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at UCLA. His research focuses on the understanding the interaction between polyelectrolytes and charged nanoparticles and investigates the structure-property relations of the resulting complexes. He enjoys listening to music and exploring different cultures.

advaitholkar<at>g<dot>ucla<dot>edu

Divya Jayaram Iyer

B.Tech., Polymer Engineering & Technology, Institute of Chemical Technology Mumbai

Divya is a graduate student in the Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering at UCLA. During her undergraduate studies, Divya worked on processing of polymer/ graphene nanocomposites and synthesis of materials from agricultural waste for application in energy storage. Apart from academics, she enjoys playing the violin, watching & playing cricket and writing articles on her blog.

divyajayaram<at>g<dot>ucla<dot>edu

Holly Senebandith

B.S., Biology, Bryn Mawr College

Holly is a graduate student in the biochemistry, molecular and structural biology program at UCLA. As a current rotation student in the Srivastava lab, she is working on protein encapsulation within polyelectrolyte complex (PEC) domains. In her spare time, Holly loves traveling and is an aerial fitness enthusiast.

hollys<at>g<dot>ucla<dot>edu

Vaqar Syed

B.S., Chemical Engineering, UCLA

Vaqar is a graduate student in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at UCLA.. His research focuses on utilizing rheology to study the flow properties of polyelectrolyte complexes (PECs). The goal is to gain a deeper insight on the effects of various external stimuli on the self-assembly of PECs, specifically at the level of intermolecular interactions. This in turn furthers the ability to control the properties of PEC systems to cater to potential biomedical applications.

vaqarsyed<at>ucla<dot>edu

Arkadeep Bhattacharya

B.S., Chemical Engineering, NIT Agartala

Arkadeep is a graduate student in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at UCLA. During his undergraduate study, he performed research on Novel Polymer Gel electrolytes for Zinc Ion batteries. For his graduate studies, he is working in Srivastava Lab on polyelectrolytes and self-assembly for various industrial applications. He believes in research on sustainable materials which will help solve practical problems. Apart from research, he loves photography, travelling and exploring places and playing computer games

arkabh<at>g<dot>ucla<dot>edu

Bowen Jiang

B.S., Chemical Engineering, Dalian University of Technology

Bowen is a graduate student in the Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering at UCLA. In his previous work as an undergraduate student, he focused on enhancing performance of membrane in vanadium redox flow battery (VRFB). He enjoys singing, playing sports and watching movies.

jbw96<at>g<dot>ucla<dot>edu

Aisha Kermiche

Aisha is an undergraduate student in Chemical Engineering with experience in using molecular dynamics simulations to predict the thermal properties of energy storage materials. Apart from research, she enjoys knitting, exercising, and reading.

aishakermiche<at>ucla<dot>edu

Matthew Salazar

Matthew is an undergraduate student at UCSB majoring in chemical engineering. He is a part of the UC LEADs program which provides resources and mentorship to students with goals to pursue post-graduate education. In his previous research stint, he worked on investigating the morphology of carbon produced from the pyrolysis of methane. In his free time, he enjoys playing video games and hiking.

matthew02<at>ucsb<dot>edu