ODES-Lab: Principal Investigator
Faculty Member & Team Leader
Writer: Poet & Kavi
Vivek Sharma
Vivek Sharma is an Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering at the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC). His Soft Matter ODES-lab (optics, dynamics, elasticity, and self-assembly laboratory) develops distinctive experiments and theories to analyze interfacial and nonlinear flows, colloidal and surface forces, optics, shear and extensional rheology, and the processability of industrial and biological soft matter. His research program exploits and advances surfactant, proteins, & polymer physics, fizzics (the science of drops, bubbles, jets, foams, and emulsions), and fluid mechanics to facilitate macromolecular engineering of formulations, including coatings, fibers, cosmetics, and plant-based foods. Vivek also publishes as a poet, an essayist, and a translator. Vivek received a B. Tech (Textile) from IIT Delhi and an M. S. (Polymer Science, 2003) from the University of Akron. He obtained his M. S. (Chemical Engineering, 2006) and Ph. D. (Polymers/MSE, 2008) from Georgia Tech. Following post-doctoral research in Mechanical Engineering at MIT, he established ODES-lab at UIC in November 2012. Vivek was selected as the Distinguished Young Rheologist by TA Instruments in 2015 and won the 3M Non-Tenured Faculty Award in 2019. At UIC, he received the College of Engineering (COE) Teaching Award in 2017 & 2023 and the COE Advising Award in 2022. Vivek is the winner of the 2023 John H. Dillon Medal awarded by the American Physical Society.
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
| Associate Professor, Chemical Engineering | The University of Illinois Chicago | 08/2019 – now |
| Assistant Professor, Chemical Engineering | The University of Illinois Chicago | 11/2012-08/2019 |
| Visiting Associate Professor, Molecular Engineering | University of Chicago, Hyde Park, Chicago, IL | Winter-Spring 2023 |
| Visiting Associate Professor, Chemical Engineering | Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA | Autumn 2022 |
| Visiting Assistant Professor, Molecular Engineering | University of Chicago, Hyde Park, Chicago, IL | Autumn 2017 |
| Instructor, Mechanical Engineering | Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge MA | Spring 2012 |
| Post-doctoral Researcher, Mechanical Engineering | Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge MA | 2008-2012 |
EDUCATION
| Degree, Field | Institution | Dates |
| Ph.D. Polymer Science & Engineering (MSE) & a minor in Physics |
Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA | 2003-2008 |
| M.S. Chemical Engineering & a minor in Nonlinear Dynamics & Chaos |
Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA | 2003-2006 |
| M.S. Polymer Science (Physics) | University of Akron, Akron, OH | 2001-2003 |
| B. Tech., Textile Technology with a focus on Polymers & Polymeric Fibers |
Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi | 1997-2001 |
A tribute, in the Ghazal form, to Bob Bird of Transport in Physics of Fluids
(With an audio recording and an essay on the Ghazal form, as supplementary info)
A tribute to Vivek’s poetry mentor, his Gurudev Thomas Lux at The Cortland Review
Special acknowledgments: Gurudev Lux, Poetry at Tech, and the Sarah Lawrence Summer Program for Writers
Gratitude to mentorship: post-doctoral by Gareth McKinley (MIT) & doctoral by Mohan Srinivasarao (GaTech)
& (Late) Pushpa Bajaj & Ashok Misra (IIT Delhi), Ali Dhinojwala (Akron), Mike Schatz, Roman Grigoriev, Paul Neitzel, & Bill Koros (GaTech), and more.