Engineer Assistant

Dr. Vikram Kanmukhla

*** ******** **** *****, *******, VA - 24301

Ph. No.: (573) - 202 - 0087; Email: *********@*****.***

QUALIFICATIONS SUMMARY

. Expertise in nanoparticle synthesis, surface functionalization and

characterization

. Sound background in Electron microscopy and various analytical

instruments

. Expertise with aqueous and organic dispersions of nanoparticles and

pigments

. Experience with scaling up nanoparticles from bench scale to pilot

plant scale

. Mathematical modeling and simulation for drug delivery using magnetic

nanoparticles

. Knowledge of Statistical Process Control (SPC) and Design of

Experiments (DOE)

EXPERIENCE

Product Development Engineer

Oct 07 - Present

Applications lab, NanoChemonics Holdings LLC

. Synthesized and scaled up various metal oxide nanoparticles including

iron oxide for cosmetics and automotive coatings, cuprous oxide for

medical applications, cobalt oxide for catalyst applications, zinc

oxide for sun screen, Cobalt ferrites for MICR inkjet applications

. Invented ultra-stable aqueous colloidal magnetic dispersions for MICR

inkjet application

. Produced organic dispersions for inorganic pigments for paints and

coatings

. Identified critical parameters in removal of toxic heavy metals from

water using nanoparticles

. Developed magnetic seeding technology for removal of sulfur and

mercury from coal and removal of titania impurities from kaolin

. Played a critical role in development of high purity raw material for

synthesizing cosmetic grade pigments to meet E-172 requirement

. Optimized the operation of chiller unit in the plant to achieve the

low temperature reaction conditions using mathematical modeling

. Collaborated with external companies in various applications of

nanoparticles

. Competitively proposed for NSF SBIR Phase-I projects

. In-charge of TEM, Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy (AAS) and VSM

Co-op: Research Chemist

May 06 - Dec 06

Catalyst characterization lab, Crop Analytics Division, Monsanto

Company

. Investigated the mechanism of sintering of catalyst nanoparticles

. Characterized the catalyst particles using electron microscopy and

compared the results with that of Small Angle X-ray Scattering (SAXS)

results

. Prepared samples for TEM and SEM using ultra-microtome and sputter

coating

. Developed sampling techniques for size distribution analysis of

catalyst nanoparticles

Graduate Research Assistant

Aug 02 - Apr 06

Dept. of Chemical and Biological Engineering, UMR

. Synthesized iron oxide nanoparticles from water-in-oil microemulsions

and characterized them using X-ray diffraction, electron microscopy

. Functionalized and modified the surfaces of the nanoparticles using

coupling agents such as silanes and characterized the surface bonding

using FTIR

. Immobilized enzymes using bio-conjugation techniques onto the surface

of nanoparticles

. Synthesized rod-shaped nanoparticles from water-in-oil micro-emulsions

and established the influence of salt concentration and cation valency

on the shape of nanoparticles

. Developed a mathematical model for the drug delivery using magnetic

nanoparticles and for separation of magnetic nanoparticles using High

Gradient Magnetic Separation (HGMS) and solved the models using

commercially available FEMLAB software

Graduate Teaching Assistant

Jan 03 - Aug 07

Dept. of Chemical and Biological Engineering, UMR

. Assisted and supervised undergraduate students in various courses and

labs (Thermodynamics, Unit Operations, Bio-reactor Lab, Process

design)

Process Design Engineer

Feb 01 - May 02

Special Task Force / Reliance Petroleum Ltd., Jamnagar, INDIA

. Designed pipe lines including pump and valve selection for crude and

vacuum distillation units for higher throughput

EDUCATION

University of Missouri - Rolla

Aug 02 - Aug 07

Ph.D., Chemical Engineering

GPA: 3.7/4.0

(Dissertation: Synthesis and characterization of iron oxide

nanoparticles and their applications)

Kuvempu University, India

Dec 96 - Nov 00

B.S., Chemical Engineering

GPA: 4.0/4.0

(Thesis: Design of a plant manufacturing 100 TPD of Poly Vinyl

Chloride)

PROJECTS

. Thermodynamic property estimation of polymer molecule using Montecarlo

simulation

. Data gathering and analysis by Statistical Process Control (SPC) tools

. Fluoride removal from drinking water using bricks (Sponsored By

Government of India, Bangalore)

SKILLS

. Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) and Scanning Electron

Microscopy (SEM)

. X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Vibration sample Magnetometer (VSM), Fourier

Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) and UV-Visible spectrometry

. ICP-MS and Atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS)

. Statistical Process Control (SPC) and Design of Experiments (DOE)

. Ultra-microtomy and sample preparation for electron microscopy

. Software packages: FEMLAB, Aspen, MATHCAD, VISIO, SPC, DOE

PUBLICATIONS

. V. Kanmukhla and O.C. Sitton, "One-pot synthesis of amine-

functionalized magnetite nanoparticles", Journal of colloid and

interface science, submitted.

. V. Kanmukhla and O.C. Sitton, "Modeling of the separation of magnetic

nanoparticles from fluid using High Gradient Magnetic Separation

(HGMS)", Journal of magnetism and magnetic materials, submitted.

. V. Kanmukhla and O.C. Sitton, "Effect of ionic strength and cation

valency on the shape of iron oxide nanoparticles", Patent pending.

HONORS & ACTIVITIES

. University First rank holder, undergraduate studies

. Graduate student representative, Dept. of chemical engineering for the

year 2005-06

. Best teaching assistant award for the year 2004-05

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