2019 Gumbo final - Book - Page 97
LSU's NSF awardee
The Award Will Allow Her to Continue Her
Research Involving the Interactions Between
Graphene Oxide and Various Liquids
SU Chemistry assistant professor Revati Kumar
received a National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER
award on Feb. 22. The award will allow her to continue
her research involving the interactions between
graphene oxide and various liquids, which could lead to better
materials for water desalination and purification.
The NSF CAREER award is part of the Faculty Early Development
Career Program, which offers grants to assistant professors on
tenure tracks who show promise as researchers and educators.
Award recipients receive five years of funding for their research
projects.
Early-career faculty can only apply for the award three times. This
was Kumar’s second proposal for the award. She won $550,000,
which will fund her research for five years.
“It’s a relief,” Kumar said. “I’m coming up for tenure soon, so it’s a
relief.”
Award applicants must write a 15-page proposal detailing their plan
for research and education on a specific topic in their field. Kumar
studies the interfaces between graphene oxide and liquids.
Graphene is a form of carbon made up of a single layer of
interconnected carbon atoms. When graphene is combined
with functional groups that contain oxygen, graphene oxide
is formed. Graphene oxide has several applications, including
water desalination and purification, but requires an interface, or
boundary, with liquids.
An interface is a common boundary between two substances, like
graphene oxide and water. Molecular activity at interfaces can
differ from molecular activity in the rest of the two substances.
Kumar said the chemistry at interfaces is exciting because of the
asymmetry there.
Chemistry postdoctoral researcher Rolf David, chemistry assistant professor
Revati Kumar and chemistry grad student Pu Du stand outside of their offices on
Wednesday, March 20, 2019.
crisis in Flint. When she read a scientific paper about using
graphene oxide for water purification, she knew she wanted to
explore this topic further.
“This is a really interesting system,” Kumar said. “The carbon layers
are hydrophobic, but the oxygen groups are hydrophilic. You’ve
got these two different kinds of chemistries on one surface. That
must make the interface with a liquid very interesting.”
Kumar’s research involves creating computer simulations of
molecular systems to understand the chemistry of interfaces, such
as the interface between graphene oxide and water. She works
with Chemistry postdoctoral researcher Rolf David and Chemistry
graduate students Visal Subasinghege Don and Pu Du to create
these simulations.
Kumar not only had to describe her research in her proposal,
but also create a plan for an education program related to
her research. One aspect of her outreach plan is a “fun with
molecules” activity for middle school students that relates
simulations of molecular interactions to what they see in real
experiments.
Kumar plans to use the grant to increase the number of students
and postdoctoral scholars involved in the research. She also plans
to develop more algorithms to better interpret the data from the
molecular simulations she conducts.
Story // Bailey Chauvin
Photo // Bella Biondini
Design // Chloe Bryars
“Most of the fun stuff in chemistry happens with interfaces,” Kumar
said. “In the bulk, you have an average environment. When you
go to the interface, you get an asymmetrical environment so cool
chemistry can take place.”
Kumar first became interested in interfaces between graphene
oxide and water three years ago after hearing about the water
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