RESEARCH INTERESTS
Samya is interested in understanding and modeling the rheology of biomaterials for better injectable hydrogels and improved drug delivery systems.
EDUCATION
Postdoctoral Associate, Stanford University - present
PhD, Mechanical Engineering, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign - 2022
BTech, Mechanical Engineering, IIT Kharagpur - 2017
HONORS, AWARDS, and SCHOLARSHIPS
NSF-INTERN Graduate Research Assistantship, UIUC, 2021
PPG-MRL Research Assistantships, UIUC, 2018
RESEARCH EXPERIENCE
Department of Mechanical Engineering, UIUC, 2017 – 2022
Research Advisor: Prof. Randy Ewoldt
Samya performed his dissertation research with Prof. Randy H. Ewoldt. he developed novel mechanical characterization techniques for soft materials, focusing on yield-stress fluids with thixotropy. The applications of his research were in wildfire suppression and industrial coatings with complex fluids.
Thermofluid Optical Visualization Lab, Department of Mechanical Engineering, IIT Kharagpur, 2016-2017
Samya worked in his final year undergraduate project to derive a mathematical framework for visualizing and computing the temperature boundary layer around heated objects in natural convection using Schlieren technique: a non-invasive optical probe using lasers that helps image mechanically inaccessible thermal systems.
ABOUT
Samya grew up in Kolkata, India. He moved to IIT Kharagpur for his bachelors in mechanical engineering, where he realized his career interests lay in academia. He moved to greener pastures in corn-country Illinois where he attended UIUC and got his PhD in mechanical engineering, with his research focus on non-Newtonian fluids and rheology. He joined the Appel group in September 2022 as a postdoc working on the rheology of biomaterials. Samya likes to cook, explore bustling cities on foot, and is interested in art (tries his hand at sketching but is not very good at it). Most importantly, he loves to cook.