Assistant Plant

Abhishek Asthana

****************@***.***

Phone: 801-***-****

School Address:

*** **, ******* ***** **********

Provo, Utah 84602, USA

Local Address:

**** * *** * ***.112

Provo, Utah 84604, USA

RESEARCH EXPERTISE

* Molecular dynamics simulations

* computational Chemistry

* Model development

* Reaction modeling

* Statistical Meachanics

* Li-ion Cell Fabrication

* Programming (C,C++,fortran,VB,Python,Matlab,VBscript,shell script)

* Flow analysis & CFD

* Process design and optimization

* Ab initio programs (SIESTA, Gaussian)

* Analysis Softwares (Fluent, COMSOL)

EDUCATION

Ph.D., Chemical Engineering October 2012

Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah [GPA: 3.98/4.0]

Bachelor of Technology, Chemical Engineering May 2005

Institute of Technology, Banaras Hindu University-India [GPA: 7.8/10.0]

RESEARCH EXPERIENCE

Graduate Research Assistant:

Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah

Molecular Simulation studies of Proton Transfer and Electrocatalytic Oxygen Reduction

* Development of a polarizable and transferrable model for accurately representing electrostatics, multi-body effects, and bond breaking and formation

* Investigation of the mechanism of the proton transfer and oxygen reduction reaction, that takes place on the cathode of fuel cells

* Observation of the effects of electrochemical double layer, solvent, and control of electrode potential on the reaction mechanism

* Development of a novel simulation tool for reactive systems, robust charge model, transferable reactive force field, and speeding up of events of interest

* Development of efficient iterative mathematical techniques for energy minimization of system, suited for the fluctuating charge and fluctuating point dipole model used

Intern:

DIPPR Laboratory, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah

Ab initio calculations of dipole moment based on time-averaged geometries

* Used ab initio molecular dynamics code SIESTA to obtain time averaged geometries

* Performed first principle calculations on variety of molecules to improve the dipole moment predictions of DIPPR database

Lab Assistant:

Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah

Li-ion Cell Fabrication

Fabricated cathodes of different porosity with LiFePO4 as active material for Li-ion battery

Undergraduate Projects:

B.Tech. Project (Institute of Technology - -BHU, Varanasi, India) 1/05-5/05

* Designed a reactor for dehydroalkylation of toluene to benzene

Summer Intern (Indian Institute of Technology - New Delhi, India) 6/03-8/03

* Designed a plant (capacity 400 tpd of wheat) & made a functional pilot plant in lab for

washing of granular materials like wheat and maize

Project Assistant (Institute of Technology-BHU, Varanasi, India)

(Environmental Ops - Waste Treatment Plant) 2/02-4/02

* Developed experimental setup for waste water treatment by aquatic plants

* Optimized the experimental setup

PUBLICATIONS

A. Asthana, D. R. Wheeler, “Molecular dynamics simulations of proton transport with a polarizable reactive force field for water”, {to be submitted to Journal of Chemical Physics soon}

PRESENTATIONS

* A. Asthana, D. R. Wheeler, “Polarizable Water Model for Simulations of Proton Transport”, AICHE Annual Meeting, Nov. 8-13, 2009, Nashville, TN

* A. Asthana, D. R. Wheeler, “Molecular dynamics simulations of proton transport with a, polarizable reactive force field for water”, AICHE Annual Meeting, Nov. 7-12, 2010, Salt Lake City, UT

ADDITIONAL EXPERIENCE

Teaching Assistant:

Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah (Winter-2012)

* Grading assignments and exam papers, tutoring students

* Teaching classes in absence of instructor

Teaching Assistant:

Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah (Fall-2011)

* Graded assignments and exam papers, tutored students

ACADEMIC HONORS

* Qualified IIT-JEE (2001) which selects top 2% students of the country every year for engineering courses in various disciplines

* Received the Winter Research Presentation Award from Graduate Studies, BYU in Fall-2009

SKILLS

Computer: FORTRAN, C, C++, Matlab, Maple, Mathcad, Gaussian-98, Gaussian-2003, GaussView, OPTDESX, FLUENT, GAMBIT, COMSOL, R- statistical package, UNIX, LINUX

Data Analysis: Parameter estimation, optimization

AFFILIATIONS

* American Institute of Chemical Engineers

* Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society - BYU Chapter

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