2024

• Dec

  • Dr. Ojus Mohan presented our work on methane pyrolysis in molten media at the Conference on Advances in Chemistry for Energy and Environment (CACEE 2024), held from December 16-20, 2024, at Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Mumbai.

  • Pritam, Vashishtha, Saikat, and Haseen from our lab presented posters at the Conference on Advances in Chemistry for Energy and Environment (CACEE 2024), held from December 16-20, 2024, at Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Mumbai.

• Nov

  • Dr. Mohan has been selected as a core member of CO2India – India’s Carbon Capture & Utilization Network. This collaborative platform drives innovation in CO2, energy, and climate research, fostering partnerships that transform high-quality fundamental science into real-world technologies to tackle climate change. 

• Oct

  • Dr. Mohan presented our work on “Hydrogen Production and C2 Product Formation in Metal-Dispersed Molten Salt Systems Via Methane Pyrolysis: An Ab Initio Molecular Dynamics Study” at the 2024 AIChE Annual Meeting in San Diego, USA. 

• Sep

  • Dr. Mohan delivered an invited talk at the Catalysis And Reaction Engineering Symposium (CARES) at IIT Madras, discussing Advancing Sustainability Through Computational Modeling.

  • Our PhD student, Pritam Rudra, presented a poster at the CARE Symposium at IIT Madras. 

• Aug

  • Our student Vashishtha was selected for and participated in the prestigious International Summer Course at BASF SE, Ludwigshafen, Germany. Congrats to Vashishtha for representing our group on an international platform!

  • Our lab presented three posters at the "Indo-UK Bilateral Workshop on Waste-derived Carbon Applications in Remediation, Energy, and Sequestration" held at IIT Bombay. Congratulations to Pritam Rudra, our PhD student, who won 2nd prize in the poster competition.

  • Dr. Mohan delivered an invited talk at the "Indo-UK Bilateral Workshop on Waste-derived Carbon Applications in Remediation, Energy, and Sequestration" held at IIT Bombay. This workshop was organized by Prof. Indrajit Chakraborty from IIT Bombay and Prof. Daya Shankar Pandey from the University of Leeds. 

• Jul

  • Our student, Shahla, has been awarded the DST/INSPIRE Fellowship to pursue her full-time doctoral (PhD) program. Congratulations, Shahla!

• Jun

  • Our M.Tech student, Sumit Kumar, has successfully defended his master's thesis! Congratulations, Sumit! We wish you all the best in your new role as you join Reliance New Energy through campus placement!

  • We bid farewell to our interns, Shrusti Borse and Ayshwaryalakshmi Kurup. Shrusti is moving on to pursue her master's program at the University at Buffalo. Ayshwaryalakshmi has received the prestigious Mitacs Fellowship to pursue her research in Canada. We appreciate their contributions and wish them all the best in their future endeavors!

  • We hosted a workshop on "Advancements in Biochar: Production, Applications, and Market Dynamics" with Dr. Anjali Jayakumar from Newcastle University, UK. The workshop was funded by the Seed Funding for Collaboration and Partnership Projects (SCPP) by IRCC, IIT Bombay, and brought together 70 participants, including representatives from the industry.

• May

  • We conducted a 1-day CEP/QIP training course on "Computational Catalysis" organized by the CoE-OGE at IIT Bombay. Participants from HPCL, IOCL, and BPCL attended the course.

• Mar

  • Congratulations to Goutam Narayan for winning the best poster award at the PMRF annual symposium conducted by IIT Indore for his work on acid strength measurements using NMR!

• Feb

  • We are delighted to welcome Ayshwaryalakshmi Kurup to the CARES lab as an Institute research intern. Ayshwaryalakshmi, welcome to the team!

  • We co-organized a successful bilateral workshop with BASF-SE Germany on "Carbon Management in the Chemical Industry" at BASF Innovation Campus Mumbai. The event was funded by the Indo-German Science and Technology Centre (IGSTC) and brought together 30 participants from Indian and German academia and industries to foster collaboration.

• Jan

  • Our study, published in ChemistrySelect, investigates the impact of non-covalent interactions in measuring the acid strength of liquid acids using a Phosphine Oxide NMR probe. A heartfelt thanks to Mr. Goutam and Prof. Sanjay Mahajani for their invaluable collaboration and contributions to this work. Link to paper.

  • Welcome, Ms. Shahla Karimpanakkal to our team, our 5th Ph.D. student! Wishing her all the best! 

Shrusti Borse joined the group as a research intern. Shrusti, welcome aboard!

2023

• Dec

  • Our paper, published in Catalysis Science & Technology, reviews recent advances in methods for designing catalysts. Grateful for the collaboration with Prof. Alexei Lapkin (University of Cambridge), Dr. Shambhawi, and Prof. Tej Choksi (NTU Singapore)! Link to paper.

  • We acquired computational resources on the National PARAM Supercomputing Facility (NPSF) - AIRAWAT-PSAI system, recognized as India's fastest supercomputer. 

  • We've secured a grant from the Indo-German Science and Technology Centre (IGSTC) to organize an international workshop on 'Carbon Management in Chemical Industry'. Co-hosted by IIT Bombay and BASF SE Germany, the event will take place from February 27-29, 2024, at BASF Innovation Campus Mumbai.

• Nov

  • Our team visited the CSIR - National Chemical Laboratory (NCL) in Pune. Had brainstorming sessions and lab visits guided by Dr. T. Raja and his students from NCL. We initiated some collaborative projects, laying the groundwork for potential future endeavors. 

• October: 

  • Dr. Haseen Siddiqui joins us as a post-doctoral fellow after completing both BTech and PhD at IITB. Welcome to the group, and best wishes!

  • Welcome Mr. Jayesh Prasad and Ms. Diya Arvind to our team as interns! Both are studying Chemical Engineering at IITB, and Diya will be co-guided by Prof. Tej Choksi from NTU Singapore. 

• September: 

  • Excited to announce the approval of funding for our project proposal by the Centre of Excellence in Oil, Gas and Energy, IIT Bombay. We will collaborate with IOCL, BPCL, and GAIL, along with Prof. Sanjay Mahajani from IITB as Co-PI. Looking forward to working on this collaborative project focussing on optimizing catalyst performance for carbon dioxide hydrogenation to methanol! 

• August: 

  • Dr. Mohan visited Newcastle University, UK, and the University of Edinburgh, UK, for engaging discussions and meetings supported by the Seed funding for Collaboration and Partnership Projects. Held meetings with Prof. Anjali Jayakumar and several students at Newcastle University. 

• July: 

  • Mr. Prehas Madke joins the group as a Ph.D. student. Wishing him all the best! 

  • Mr. Adit Agrawal and Mr. Aadi Bansal joined the group as interns under the Summer Undergraduate Research Program (SURP) 2023. Welcome to CARES Lab, Adit and Aadi!

• June: 

  • We presented two posters at the Outreach Symposium on 'Molecular Simulations: Advances & Applications' held at IITB: one highlighting our lab's ongoing projects and another focused on the characterization of acid strength using phosphine oxide as a chemical shift descriptor for liquid inorganic acids.

  • Dr. Mohan chaired a session on 'Computational Catalysis for CO2 Utilisation' at the Outreach Symposium on 'Molecular Simulations: Advances & Applications' held at IITB. 

• May: 

  • Welcome Mr. Vidhan Jain, Mr. Pranav Savla, Mr. Atharva, Mr. Anand Raj and Mr. Abey Jacob as summer interns to CARES Lab. Abey is from NITW, and Vidhan, Pranav, Atharva, and Anand are from IITB. 

  • We bid farewell to Dr. Sudip Das as he embarks on his second postdoctoral fellowship at New York University. We wish him the best in his future endeavors. 

  • We are excited to share that our project proposal, in collaboration with Prof. Anjali Jayakumar from Newcastle University, has been awarded Seed funding for Collaboration and Partnership Projects (SCPP) by IRCC, IIT Bombay!

  • Mr. Vashishtha Patel joins the group as a PhD student. Welcome to the group, and wishing you the best. 

• Apr: 

  • Ms. Suranjana Banerjee joins the group as a PhD student. Welcome to the group, and best wishes!!! 

• Mar: 

  • The CARES Lab presented a poster showcasing our projects at the Research Scholar Symposium 2023, held at IIT Bombay.

• Feb: 

  • Dr. Das gave a talk on "A novel techno-economically feasible reaction network for industrial production of β-phenylethanol" at the International Conferences on Chemical Engineering Innovation and Sustainability (ICEIS-2023) held at Jadavpur University.

• Jan: 

  • Mr. Sumit Kumar joined as the first MTech student of CARES Lab. Welcome Sumit!

2022

• Dec: Mr. Pritam Rudra joined as the first PhD student of the group. Welcome to CARES lab, Pritam!

• Nov: The Senate approved the new institute-level elective Dr. Mohan proposed - CL501 Computational Methods in Catalysis. Course syllabus is available in asc.

• July: Mr. Girish Ramachandran, Mr. Jai Israni and Ms. Puja Maitra joined the group as interns under the Summer Undergraduate Research Program (SURP) 2022. Girish is from NITT, and Jai and Puja are from IITB. Welcome to CARES Lab Girish, Jai and Puja!

• July: Dr. Sudip Das joined the group as an Institute Postdoctoral Fellow. Sudip did his Ph.D. at IIT Bombay under Prof. Sanjay Mahajani. Welcome Sudip!

• July: Our research laboratory is called "CARES Lab," an abbreviation for "Catalysis Research for Sustainability." This name reflects our lab's primary focus on conducting research related to catalysis and its crucial role in promoting sustainable practices. Check the CARES logo here (under R&D).

• July: Received seed grant through the Industrial Research and Consultancy Centre (IRCC), IIT Bombay. The seed grant includes ₹20,00,000 plus support for one Ph.D. student in the project mode.

• June: Dr. Mohan received the Young Faculty Award at IIT Bombay. The award has been instituted from a generous donation from the Alumni of IIT Bombay.

• May 12: Dr. Mohan joined as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay.