Rajeev Kumar

PhD student

Theory and Simulation Lab

Polymer Science and Engineering Department

rajeev -AT- pse -DOT- umass -DOT- edu
Office: Room 222
Ph. 413-335-3626

Introduction

I did my undergraduate studies at Indian Institute of Technology Delhi in Department of Textile Technology. I did my B-Tech Project with Prof. Ashwini K Agrawal and Prof. Manjeet Jassal on LCST transition of polyelectrolytic gels. After graduating, I worked with Career Point, Kota as a lecturer in Mathematics for one year. Currently, I am working with Prof. M Muthukumar on theoretical aspects of polyelectrolytes..

Research Interests

Currently, I am working on the following problems :

Theory of micellization for charged-neutral diblock copolymers.

Theory of counterion condensation on flexible polyelectrolytes in confined environments.

Computation of translocation barriers for flexible polyelectrolyte chains : role of energy and entropy.

Experimental investigations on the kinetics of aggregation in proteins.

In the past, I have worked on the following problems:

Predicton of morphology diagrams for polyelectrolytic diblock copolymers melt in weak segregation limit.

Computation of free energy for a single flexible polyelectrolyte in spherical cavities.

Publications

Rajeev Kumar and M Muthukumar, Confinement free energy of flexible polyelectrolytes in spherical cavities, J. Chem. Phys., 128, 184902 (2008) (.pdf).
Rajeev Kumar and M Muthukumar, Microphase separation in polyelectrolytic diblock copolymer melt: Weak segregation limit, J. Chem. Phys., 126, 214902 (2007)(.pdf).
Manjeet Jassal, Vivek Raj, Rajeev Kumar, Ninad S Save and Ashwini K Agrawal, Synthesis of Stimuli-Sensitive Polymers Based on N-Substituted Acrylamides, in Proceedings of International Seminar on Frontiers of Polymer Science and Engineering, MACRO 2002 at IIT Kharagpur, December 2002, 09.4 (There is a typo in author list - .pdf)

Presentations

Confinement free energy of single flexible polyelectrolyte chain, R. Kumar and M. Muthukumar, 33^rd New England Complex Fluids Workshop, Harvard University, Boston, MA, Nov 2007 (sound bite).
Confinement effects on flexible polyelectrolytic systems, R. Kumar and M. Muthukumar, Modeling and Computation in Physics, Mathematics and Biology, University of Massachusetts Amherst / University of Heidelberg Workshop, Amherst, MA, May 2007 (poster).
Morphology diagrams for polyelectrolytic diblock copolymers, R. Kumar and M. Muthukumar, American Physical Society, Baltimore, MD, March 2006 (talk).
Morphology diagrams for polyelectrolytic diblock copolymers,R. Kumar and M. Muthukumar, 6^th National Graduate Research Conference, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, 2005 (talk).