BIOGRAPHY

Dr. Sohini Bhattacharyya received her bachelor’s with honors in Chemistry from Presidency College, Kolkata, India, and her M.S and PhD in Materials Sciences from Jawaharlal Nehru Center for Advanced Scientific Research, Bangalore, India. Her thesis focused on post-synthetic modification of Metal-organic Frameworks (MOFs) for their application in energy and environment. She primarily investigated the capture of greenhouse gases and other hydrocarbons, water purification and catalytic applications with these materials.

As a Rice Academy Fellow, Sohini will be working with Prof. P. M. Ajayan to achieve the efficient valorization of biogas. Till date, only 0.3% utility scale electricity can be obtained from the several thousands of cubic meters of waste landfills across USA. This is primarily because the obtained biogas is a mixture of methane and carbon dioxide, and their separation and conversion are rather tedious and energetically unfavorable processes. Sohini will be looking at developing inexpensive, scalable and efficient catalysts for the conversion of both methane and carbon dioxide to value-added products for the calorific upgradation of biogas. This opportunity will help Sohini work on an extremely relevant problem that deals with conversion of two of the most vicious greenhouse gases into important chemical and fuels. It will also go a long way in shaping her future academic career.

Outside of work, Sohini enjoys reading, painting, and traveling. She is also an enthusiastic singer and treasures the jam sessions with her friends over the weekends.