Dr. Nitash P. Balsara is The Charles W. Tobias Professor in Electrochemistry at the University of California, Berkeley. Prof Balsara specializes in the study of soft structures that self-assemble from the liquid state. His research program is based on soft microstructured materials such as block copolymer melts, polymer blends, and microemulsions.
Prof. Balsara did his B.Tech in Chemical Engineering from IIT Kanpur in 1982. He obtained his master's degree from Clarkson University (USA) in 1984, and his PhD. from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) , the US, in 1998.
He did post-doctoral research at the University of Minnesota, and at Exxon Research and Engineering Company in Annandale, New Jersey. In 1992, he joined Polytechnic University in Brooklyn as an assistant professor of Chemical Engineering. In 2000, he accepted a joint appointment as professor of Chemical Engineering at the University
of California, Berkeley, and faculty scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. He also co-founded two battery start-ups: Seeo, Inc., and Blue Current.
Prof. Balsara's lab aims to study the self-assembly and transport properties of nanostructured polymer materials for applications such as lithium batteries. The work by the Prof. Balsara's lab includes electrochemical characterization of different polymer electrolytes, studying the phase behavior of different block copolymers, along with observing the formation and growth of lithium dendrites through these electrolytes.
Prof. Nitash P. Balsara is the recipient of the prestigious IITK Distinguished Alumnus Award 2019.
