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Prof. Arup K. Chakraborty

(BT/CHE/83)

Prof. Arup K. Chakraborty is the Robert T. Haslam Professor in Chemical Engineering, Chemistry and Biological Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), USA. He is also the founding director of MIT's Institute for Medical Engineering and Science. His predictive computational/theoretical work has impacted both the experimental basic immunology and the infectious disease research. He has had a remarkable illustrious career marked with several prestigious research and teaching awards from Berkeley and MIT. In 2008, IIT Kanpur conferred upon him the Distinguished Alumnus Award for his seminal contributions.

Profile

Prof. Chakraborty received his B.Tech. in Chemical Engineering from IIT Kanpur in 1983. Following it, he joined the Ph.D. program in the same subject at the University of Delaware, USA and completed it in 1988. After a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Minnesota from 1987 to 1988, he joined as a faculty in the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley where he was the Warren and Katherine Schlinger Distinguished Professor and Chair of Chemical Engineering. He also headed the Theoretical and Computational Biology at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. In September 2005, he moved to MIT where he is currently the Robert T. Haslam Professor of Chemical Engineering, Chemistry and Biological Engineering. He is also the founding director of MIT's Institute for Medical Engineering and Science, and a founding member of the Ragon Institute of MIT, MGH and Harvard.

Prof. Chakraborty's research interests include cell-cell recognition in immunology, T-cell biology, polymers and membranes, and statistical mechanics. The central focus of his research group is to understand the mechanistic basis of the adaptive immune response to pathogens, and then to use this understanding to help design better vaccines and therapies. They work on problems ranging from inter-cellular communication in the immune system, bio-sensors, polymer science and interfacial phenomena to zeolite catalysis. His work is outstanding and distinguished because of its close synergy with complementary studies in experimental immunology laboratories and clinical research. They have collaborated with over 15 different immunology laboratories and have active collaborations with several other prestigious names. His laboratory is one of the six core groups comprising the Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT & Harvard-a multidisciplinary institute focused on understanding the human immune response and harnessing this knowledge to develop a vaccine against HIV..

Achievements and Honors


  • MIT Institute Professor, 2021
  • John M. Prausnitz Institute Lecturer, American Institute of Chemical Engineers, 2021
  • Outstanding Graduate Teaching Award, Chemical Engineering Department, MIT, 2020
  • Doctor of Engineering honoris causa, Hong Kong University of Science & Technology (awarded 2019, conferred 2020)
  • Guggenheim Fellowship, 2018
  • Moore Distinguished Scholar, Caltech, 2018
  • Elected, Member of the National Academy of Medicine, 2017
  • Elected, Member of the National Academy of Sciences, 2016
  • Graduate Student Council Outstanding Faculty Award, 2012.
  • Outstanding Graduate Teaching award, Chemical Engineering department, MIT, 2012
  • Outstanding Graduate Teaching award, Chemical Engineering department, MIT, 2009
  • Elected Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science, 2008
  • Distinguished Alumnus Award, Indian Institute of Technology-Kanpur, 2008
  • Elected, Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 2007
  • E.O. Lawrence Award for Life Sciences, DOE, 2007
  • NIH Director's Pioneer Award, 2006
  • Presidential Citation for Outstanding Achievement, University of Delaware, 2005
  • Doraiswamy Lecturer, Iowa State Univ. and National Chemical Laboratory, India, 2005
  • Dept. of Chem. Eng. Teaching Award, UC Berkeley, 2005
  • Engineering Foundation Endowed Lectureship, U.T. Austin, 2005
  • Elected, Member of the National Academy of Engineering, 2004
  • Professional Progress Award, American Institute of Chemical Engineers, 2004
  • Chemcon Distinguished Lecturer Award, Bhubaneswar, India, 2003
  • Robert W. Vaughan Memorial Lecturer, Caltech, 2000
  • Research Professor, Miller Institute for Basic Science, Berkeley, 1999-2000
  • Featured Speaker, NAE Frontiers of Engineering Meeting, 1999
  • Allan P. Colburn Award, American Institute of Chemical Engineers, 1996
  • Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award, 1994
  • AIChE, Berkeley Student Chapter, Appreciation for Distinguished Teaching, 1996-97
  • National Young Investigator Award, 1992-1997
  • Royal Academy of Engineering (U.K.), ICI Fellowship, 1993- 1998
  • Shell Young Faculty Fellow, 1989-1992
  • Best Review Paper, Intnl. Conference on Polymer/Solid Interfaces, Belgium, 1991

Last updated Jun 28, 2021