Mausumi Mahapatra
Mausumi Mahapatra Awarded $110K Grant from American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Fund
Mausumi Mahapatra, assistant professor of research in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, was awarded a $110K grant by the American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Fund (ACS PRF).
The ACS PRF grant awarded Mahapatra $110,000 over two years, recognizing her innovative research and providing critical support for her work in designing and characterizing catalytic surfaces to advance sustainable chemical processes.
“I am extremely grateful and excited for this funding from the Petroleum Research Fund,” said Mahapatra. “As my first grant, it is particularly special to me, and it gives me the confidence to advance my research and establish a research group.”
Mahapatra’s research focuses on studying chemical reactions on well-defined surfaces in highly controlled environments. Her current project supported by the ACS PRF grant centers on designing Rhodium (Rh)-based catalytic surfaces for hydroformylation reactions. Hydroformylation is a key chemical process that converts olefins into aldehydes, which are critical building blocks for synthesizing alcohols, esters, and amines.
“I am a surface scientist by training, and my research interests focus on studying chemical reactions on well-defined surfaces in highly controlled environments,” expressed Mahapatra. “One of the main goals of our research group is the design and characterization of novel catalytic surfaces with atomic-scale precision, using advanced microscopy and spectroscopy techniques.”
Mahapatra leads the Mahapatra Research Group at Loyola University Chicago, which is dedicated to the synthesis and characterization of model catalytic surfaces. Her lab’s primary focus areas include the development of renewable and sustainable fuels and the design of 2D chiral surfaces, and it features two custom-built Ultrahigh Vacuum (UHV) systems crafted by Scienta Omicron.
“This grant will support a graduate student research assistant or a postdoc, helping to accelerate the research, generate peer-reviewed publications, and prepare competitive external funding proposals to advance the project,” said Mahapatra.
“This is an exciting time, as I am in the process of setting up my laboratory with the help of the amazing students in my group at Loyola University Chicago,” stated Mahapatra. “It has been a pleasure to work with such curious and passionate team members who are eager to learn and explore new things.”
Mahapatra credits her mentors, family, and friends for their unwavering support throughout her scientific journey. “I am privileged to have had great mentors who have guided me in my career, and I am deeply grateful to my family and friends for their unconditional love and encouragement,” she said.
Learn more about Mahaparta, the ACS grant, her research group.
About the College of Arts and Sciences
The College of Arts and Sciences is the oldest of Loyola University Chicago’s 15 schools, colleges, and institutes. More than 150 years since its founding, the College is home to 20 academic departments and 37 interdisciplinary programs and centers, more than 450 full-time faculty, and nearly 8,000 students. The 2,000+ classes that we offer each semester span an array of intellectual pursuits, ranging from the natural sciences and computational sciences to the humanities, the social sciences, and the fine and performing arts. Our students and faculty are engaged internationally at our campus in Rome, Italy, as well as at dozens of University-sponsored study abroad and research sites around the world. Home to the departments that anchor the University’s Core Curriculum, the College seeks to prepare all of Loyola’s students to think critically, to engage the world of the 21st century at ever deepening levels, and to become caring and compassionate individuals. Our faculty, staff, and students view service to others not just as one option among many, but as a constitutive dimension of their very being. In the truest sense of the Jesuit ideal, our graduates strive to be “individuals for others.”
Mausumi Mahapatra, assistant professor of research in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, was awarded a $110K grant by the American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Fund (ACS PRF).
The ACS PRF grant awarded Mahapatra $110,000 over two years, recognizing her innovative research and providing critical support for her work in designing and characterizing catalytic surfaces to advance sustainable chemical processes.
“I am extremely grateful and excited for this funding from the Petroleum Research Fund,” said Mahapatra. “As my first grant, it is particularly special to me, and it gives me the confidence to advance my research and establish a research group.”
Mahapatra’s research focuses on studying chemical reactions on well-defined surfaces in highly controlled environments. Her current project supported by the ACS PRF grant centers on designing Rhodium (Rh)-based catalytic surfaces for hydroformylation reactions. Hydroformylation is a key chemical process that converts olefins into aldehydes, which are critical building blocks for synthesizing alcohols, esters, and amines.
“I am a surface scientist by training, and my research interests focus on studying chemical reactions on well-defined surfaces in highly controlled environments,” expressed Mahapatra. “One of the main goals of our research group is the design and characterization of novel catalytic surfaces with atomic-scale precision, using advanced microscopy and spectroscopy techniques.”
Mahapatra leads the Mahapatra Research Group at Loyola University Chicago, which is dedicated to the synthesis and characterization of model catalytic surfaces. Her lab’s primary focus areas include the development of renewable and sustainable fuels and the design of 2D chiral surfaces, and it features two custom-built Ultrahigh Vacuum (UHV) systems crafted by Scienta Omicron.
“This grant will support a graduate student research assistant or a postdoc, helping to accelerate the research, generate peer-reviewed publications, and prepare competitive external funding proposals to advance the project,” said Mahapatra.
“This is an exciting time, as I am in the process of setting up my laboratory with the help of the amazing students in my group at Loyola University Chicago,” stated Mahapatra. “It has been a pleasure to work with such curious and passionate team members who are eager to learn and explore new things.”
Mahapatra credits her mentors, family, and friends for their unwavering support throughout her scientific journey. “I am privileged to have had great mentors who have guided me in my career, and I am deeply grateful to my family and friends for their unconditional love and encouragement,” she said.
Learn more about Mahaparta, the ACS grant, her research group.
About the College of Arts and Sciences
The College of Arts and Sciences is the oldest of Loyola University Chicago’s 15 schools, colleges, and institutes. More than 150 years since its founding, the College is home to 20 academic departments and 37 interdisciplinary programs and centers, more than 450 full-time faculty, and nearly 8,000 students. The 2,000+ classes that we offer each semester span an array of intellectual pursuits, ranging from the natural sciences and computational sciences to the humanities, the social sciences, and the fine and performing arts. Our students and faculty are engaged internationally at our campus in Rome, Italy, as well as at dozens of University-sponsored study abroad and research sites around the world. Home to the departments that anchor the University’s Core Curriculum, the College seeks to prepare all of Loyola’s students to think critically, to engage the world of the 21st century at ever deepening levels, and to become caring and compassionate individuals. Our faculty, staff, and students view service to others not just as one option among many, but as a constitutive dimension of their very being. In the truest sense of the Jesuit ideal, our graduates strive to be “individuals for others.”