| Professor Kumta's research interests
cover the two broad areas of Energy storage
and Biomaterials. The main focus of research
in both these areas is to develop novel
low temperature approaches and study the
relationships of the process parameters,
the ensuing microstructure and crystallographic
structure to the electrochemical activity
in the former and biological response in
the latter. Current research in the energy
storage area has been directed towards understanding
the theory of solid-state materials using
first principles methods while developing
novel low temperature chemical, mechano-chemical
and thin film approaches to synthesize nanostructured
particulate and nano-layered thin film architectures
for lithium-ion applications. Research has
also been conducted to develop indigenous
low temperature sol-gel and template approaches
for the synthesis of nanostructured particles
and nanotube electrocatalysts for direct
methanol fuel cells. In the Biomaterials
area, research is focused on developing
novel low temperature metastable approaches
under physiological conditions for the synthesis
of biocompatible ceramics useful in non-viral
gene delivery applications. Another important
aspect of the Biomaterials research program
involving strong interaction with the University
of Pittsburgh is to study the role of bio-ceramics
and genetically engineered proteins for
engineering and design of new biomaterial
interfaces and morphologies used to investigate
stem cell plasticity. |
| Professor Kumta obtained his Bachelor of
Technology with Honors in Metallurgical Engineering
from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay,
India in 1984. This was followed by M.S. and
Ph.D. degrees in Materials Science and Engineering
from the University of Arizona in 1987 and
1990, respectively. He joined the Department
of Materials Science and Engineering at Carnegie
Mellon University following his graduation
in 1990 as an Assistant Professor and was
promoted to Full Professor with tenure in
1999. He also has a courtesy appointment in
the Biomedical Engineering Department. Professor
Kumta is the author and co-author of more
than 125 refereed publications and has given
more than 160 conference presentations. He
was also the recipient of the Research Initiation
Award from the National Science Foundation
in 1993 and has been continuously listed in
Who's Who in Science and Engineering, Who's
Who in America, Who's Who in the World and
Who's Who in American Education since 1999.
He was the founding organizer of the first
symposium on "Electrochemically Active Materials
for Energy Storage and Devices" for the Annual
Meeting of the American Ceramic Society held
in Indianapolis in 1995, and has been actively
involved in its organization and execution
to date. He is currently the U.S. Editor-in-Chief
of Materials Science and Engineering, B, Solid-State
Materials for Advanced Technology, an International
Journal by Elsevier Publications. |
| C.-C. Chang, O. Velikokhatnyi and P.N. Kumta,
"Effect of Magnesium Substitution in Lithium
Nickel Oxide: An Ab-initio Study", J.
Electrochemical Society, 151 (12),
J91-J94, (2004).
I.S. Kim, G.E. Blomgren and P.N. Kumta,
"Si/SiC Nanocomposite Anodes Synthesized
using High-energy Mechanical Milling", J.
of Power Sources, 130, 275-280,
(2004).
Prashant N. Kumta, Charles Sfeir, Dong-hyun
Lee, Dana Olton, Daiwon Choi, "Nanostructured
Calcium Phosphates for Biomedical Applications:
Novel Synthesis and Characterization", Acta
Biomaterialia 1, 65-83, (2005).
J. Maranchi, A.F. Hepp and P.N. Kumta,
"High Capacity Reversible Thin Film Silicon
Anodes for Lithium-Ion Batteries", Electrochemical
and Solid State Letters 6 (9),
A198- A201 (2003).
J.Y. Kim, S. Narayanan, T. Waldez, and
P.N. Kumta, "Sol-Gel Synthesis of High Surface
Area Pt-Ru Electrocatalysts for Direct Methanol
Fuel Cells", J. Electrochemical Society
150 (11), A1421-A1431 (2003). |
Professor
Prashant N. Kumta