Research Scholar's Day (2022) 25th March 2022
Talk Title : “Of Humans...and microbes...and soaps”
Abstract of the talk
Dr. Raut's talk, on one hand elaborated on some the microbiome research and products in Unilever and has also illustrated the complexity and beauty of multiphase soft solids through the example of a bar of soap.
About the Speaker
Dr. Janhavi Raut is currently Director, R&D at Unilever R&D center at Bangalore. She obtained her B Tech in Chemical Engineering from IIT Bombay and subsequently pursued her higher studies at Pennsylvania State University. For the last 21 years, she has worked on a myriad of projects across locations & teams at Unilever, thereby building very diverse skills. She has expertise in soap processing and rheology, natural colorants, hydrodynamic cavitation, photoprotection, biomaterials and human microbiomes. She has over 30 inventions patented in multiple countries with a total of 50 patents granted in her name. She has held visiting and adjust professorship appointments at IIT Delhi, MIT Manipal and BMS college of engineering, Bangalore.
Talk Title : “Caudal Autotomy in Lizards: Role of Adhesion”
Abstract of the talk
This special lecture discussed his recent findings published in a Science article that addresses the above question in the context of caudal autotomy in lizards & how adhesion helps the animal shed the tail only when it is absolutely required and not otherwise.
About the Speaker
He joined the Department of Chemical Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur in 2004 as an Assistant Professor and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2009. Dr. Ghatak has received the Young Engineer Award of the Indian National Academy of Engineering in 2006, Humboldt Research Fellowship in 2010, and has published in Science, Advanced Materials, Physical Review Letters, Proc. National Academy of Sciences, Langmuir and Soft Matter. In 2014, Dr. Ghatak was named a Gireesh Jankinath Chair Professor in Chemical Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur. His research interests are in the areas of Adhesion, friction and fracture at soft interfaces, locomotion of soft objects, flow through microfluidic channels.
