Poornima Padmanabhan Headshot

Poornima Padmanabhan

Associate Professor

Department of Chemical Engineering
Kate Gleason College of Engineering
Program Faculty, School of Mathematics and Statistics
poornima.padmanabhan@rit.edu
585-475-4877
Office Location
INS-2105

Poornima Padmanabhan

Associate Professor

Department of Chemical Engineering
Kate Gleason College of Engineering
Program Faculty, School of Mathematics and Statistics

Education

B.Tech., Indian Institute of Technology, Madras (India); Ph.D., Cornell University

Bio

Dr. Poornima Padmanabhan is an Associate Professor at Rochester Institute of Technology in the Department of Chemical Engineering. She received her B. Tech in Chemical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology Madras and Ph.D. from Cornell University. Her research interests are in the areas of the thermodynamics and rheology of soft materials comprised of polymers and colloids. Her group develops rational design approaches using computational methods to understand the interplay between competing thermodynamic driving forces to design materials of desired composition and length scales. In 2022, she received an NSF CAREER award to study the role of chirality in self-assembly, and to improve engineering pedagogy by designing activities targeted at improving spatial thinking skills in first year engineering students. In 2024, she was received a ACS PMSE Early Investigator Award. In addition to research, she is actively involved in increasing the presence of women in STEM through outreach and engagement.

poornima.padmanabhan@rit.edu
585-475-4877
Personal Links
Personal Website
ORCID
Google Scholar

Select Scholarship

Journal Paper
Fenton, Scott, et al. "Minimal conditions for solidification and thermal processing of colloidal gels." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 120. 25 (2023): e2215922120. Web.
Grant, Michael J., et al. "Coil−Helix Block Copolymers Can Exhibit Divergent Thermodynamics in the Disordered Phase." Journal of Chemical Theory and Computation. (2023): Pending. Web.
Buchanan, Natalie, Joules Provenzano, and Poornima Padmanabhan. "A Tunable, Particle-Based Model for the Diverse Conformations Exhibited by Chiral Homopolymers." Macromolecules 55. 15 (2022): 6321-6331. Print.
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Currently Teaching

CHME-182
Chemical Engineering Insights II
1 Credits
This course examines how chemical engineering analysis can be applied to address some of society’s current and future challenges. Particular attention is focused on the size and scale of a system and its affect on the engineering constraints and the ultimate solution of problems. The course enables students to recognize that the processes and equipment that chemical engineers design to solve local problems affect the broader problems that society faces, such as the supply of energy and preservation of the environment. The course demonstrates the power of the system balance as an essential tool for engineering analysis, and provides students with some elementary training in its use.
CHME-340
Reaction Engineering
4 Credits
The fundamentals of chemical kinetics are integrated with the concepts of mass and energy conservation, from both a macroscopic and microscopic perspective, to develop models that describe the performance of chemical reactors. Topics include mass action kinetics and absolute rate theory, series and parallel reaction systems, and the mathematical modeling of various reactor configurations. The conceptual framework and tools are developed to understand and design chemical reactor processes and to interpret experimental data obtained on a laboratory scale to design pilot scale and full scale manufacturing processes.
CHME-499
Co-op
0 Credits
One semester of paid work experience in chemical engineering.
CHME-511
Statistical Thermodynamics
3 Credits
This course draws a connection between molecular scale phenomena and concepts in undergraduate chemical engineering thermodynamics. The ideal gas law is derived from first principles, entropy is defined from a molecular perspective, and chemical potential (and fugacity) is viewed as a derivative of the partition function rather than an “ad-hoc” correction parameter for vapor-liquid equilibrium. Using the thermodynamic ensembles and multivariable calculus, a unified approach to convert between all thermodynamic variables is presented. A special emphasis is provided on the phase separation of gas-mixtures and liquid-mixtures to enable the design of solvents for applications.
CHME-611
Statistical Thermodynamics
3 Credits
This course draws a connection between molecular scale phenomena and concepts in undergraduate chemical engineering thermodynamics. The ideal gas law is derived from first principles, entropy is defined from a molecular perspective, and chemical potential (and fugacity) is viewed as a derivative of the partition function rather than an “ad-hoc” correction parameter for vapor-liquid equilibrium. Using the thermodynamic ensembles and multivariable calculus, a unified approach to convert between all thermodynamic variables is presented. A special emphasis is provided on the phase separation of gas-mixtures and liquid-mixtures to enable the design of solvents for applications.
MTSE-777
Graduate Project
3 Credits
This course is a capstone project using research facilities available inside or outside of RIT.

In the News

  • May 8, 2023

    close up of shampoo, showing large and small purple, yellow and orange bubbles.

    Squishing the barriers of physics

    Four RIT faculty members are opening up soft matter physics, sometimes known as “squishy physics,” to a new generation of diverse scholars. Moumita Das, Poornima Padmanabhan, Shima Parsa, and Lishibanya Mohapatra are helping RIT make its mark in the field.

  • February 15, 2022

    two students hugging in front of school lockers.

    Rochester Prep High School students share their capstone experience

    One highlight of the RIT-Rochester Prep High School Partnership is the annual capstone showcase that spotlights student-professor collaborations. Their diverse projects in photojournalism, antibiotic resistance, 3D printing and fabrication, and chemical engineering gave the students experience on a college campus and the confidence of completing undergraduate-level material.

  • January 17, 2022

    environmental portrait of professor Poornima Padmanabhan.

    RIT professor Poornima Padmanabhan honored with NSF CAREER Award

    Scientists look to space for origins of the solar system; chemical engineers like Poornima Padmanabhan are searching for the origins of life based on minute systems of molecules. Padmanabhan recently received a National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) award for “Chirality and polymer thermodynamics: frustration and amplification.”

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