R.K. (Ranjita) Bose, Prof

ACADEMIC POSITIONS

06/2022 – present, Associate professor
Associate professor in Polymer Engineering, Department of Chemical Engineering, Engineering and Technology Institute Groningen (ENTEG), University of Groningen (UG), The Netherlands

2023 - present, Programme Director BSc Chemical Engineering (UG)

06/2017 – 05/2022,  Assistant professor (tenure track)

Department of Chemical Engineering, Engineering and Technology Institute Groningen (ENTEG), University of Groningen, The Netherlands

03/2012 – 05/2017, Postdoctoral researcher

Novel aerospace materials, Faculty of Aerospace Engineering, Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands

Topic: Self-healing polymers – Synthesis, molecular mechanisms, dynamics, macroscopic behavior, and structure-property relationships

Supervisors: Prof. Sybrand van der Zwaag, Dr. Santiago J. Garcia Espallargas

EDUCATION

09/2006 – 12/2011        Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering, Drexel University, Philadelphia, USA

Thesis title: Initiated Chemical Vapor Deposition for Synthesis of Polymer Thin Films and Coatings for Biological Applications.

Supervisor: Prof. Kenneth Lau

06/2002 – 06/2006        B.E. (Bachelor of Engineering) in Chemical Engineering, Gujarat University, India

AWARDS & GRANTS

Just Transition Funds (JTF) from Subsidy North Netherlands (SNN) and the Province of Groningen on Recycling of PVC: €400,000

SNN Subsidy North Netherlands on CIrcular Furniture 2021: €200,000

ERC FET-Open 2019 on Functional & Dynamic 3D Nano- MicroDevices by Direct Multi-Photon Lithography 2020: €547,000

SNN Subsidy North Netherlands on supercritical CO2 for industrial applications with industrial partner Foamplant 2019: €300,000

University of Groningen, Tenure track startup funds 2017 for research equipment and  bursary PhD student

Drittmittel Fähig 2013:  €8000 A competitive personal grant awarded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) under their self-healing materials special priority program (SPP) 1568 for young researchers to enable them to pursue independent research.

George Hill Jr. Fellowship 2008, Drexel University: $5000 The George Hill Jr. endowed fellowship was established in 1991 and is awarded for academic excellence to Ph.D. candidates showing an inclination for a career in academia.           

CITATION METRICS

h-index: 27; Total citations: 2553 (Source: Google scholar, February 2025)

https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=MWuz_BwAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao

h-index: 27; Total citations: 2170 (Source: Scopus, February 2025)

https://www.scopus.com/authid/detail.uri?authorId=27267581700

RESEARCH EXPERTISE & CONTRIBUTIONS 

• Polymer thin films and surface chemistry with a focus on structure property relationships.
• Developed methodologies to quantify self-healing in polymers and relate the chemical reversibility to mechanical property recovery.
• Synthesized ultrahigh molecular weight polymer thin films and coatings using with controlled radical polymerization.
• Kinetics of vapor deposition polymerization
• Optimized synthesis and purification of candidate polymers based on application requirements.
• Developed surface coatings (acrylate and fluorinated polymers) on micro- and nano- scale substrates for applications of controlled release, super-hydrophobic surfaces, biomaterial implants and moisture barrier properties.
• Characterization techniques: NMR, FT-IR, UV-Vis, HPLC, GPC, DSC, TGA, DMA, rheology, XRD, ellipsometry, and surface analysis using optical microscopy, confocal microscopy, AFM, XPS, SEM and EDS.

INVITED TALKS 

1.     Hot Wire Chemical Vapor Deposition 2023 – Invited conference talk.

Bose R.K. Functional Polymer Coatings via Initiated and Oxidative Chemical Vapor Deposition

2.     Groningen Engineering Business Centre, R&D Playground Meeting 2022 – Invited talk

Bose R.K. Smart and Sustainable Polymer Coatings

3.     European Materials Research Society (E-MRS) annual conference 2022 – Invited conference talk

Bose R.K. Chemical vapor deposition of polymers for biomedical and energy applications

4.     Nirma University Ahmedabad India, 2020, Distinguished alumni lecture to students of chemical engineering

Bose R.K. It's All About Flow: Rheology, Reactor Design, and Research Career.

5.     EMPA Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology St. Gallen, Switzerland, 2018 - Seminar.

Bose R.K. Polymer coatings using solvent-free initiated chemical vapor deposition.

6.     Euromat annual conference, 2013, Seville, Spain - Keynote lecture

Bose, R.K. and van der Zwaag S. Recent advances in characterisation, quantification and understanding the self-healing mechanism of supramolecular rubbers and metallopolymers.

SERVICE AND OUTREACH 

• 2020-2022, Board member of Young Science and Engineering Network (YSEN), the tenure track society of FSE at UG
• 2020-2022, Member of ENTEG PhD reviewing committee ENTEG
• 2018-2020, Member of Program Committee Industrial Engineering and Management (IEM) IEM
• 2019- 2023, Member of Program Committee Chemistry/Chemical Engineering (Ch/CE) Ch/CE
• Guest editor of journal Polymers for a special issue on Self-healing Polymers to be published in December 2020.
• Supervising the final year science project on conductive polymer films of high school VWO (highest variant of secondary school education in the Netherlands) students Mart Deinum and Bram Elderman from Maartenscollege in Haren, September 2019 to March 2020.

https://www.rug.nl/research/enteg/news/high-school-student-project-in-collaboration-with-chemical-engineering-at-university-of-groninge

• Zpannend Zernike demonstration on art meets chemistry https://zpannendzernike.nl/video-2024/
• Outreach lectures and experiments on self-healing polymers for high school students during the event “Student for one day” at the University of Groningen, 2019 and 2020.
• Member of the local scientific organizing committee for the European Polymer Federation Conference 2025
• Member of the scientific organizing committee for the International Conference on Self-Healing Materials 2024
• Scientific committee member for the Symposium on “Polymer and hybrid thin films from innovative deposition techniques to functional devices” – EMRS Spring Meeting 2018, Strasbourg France.
• Organized 3^rd year PhD seminar day for chemical engineering to foster cross disciplinary communication and promote timely finishing of PhD thesis 2020, and 2024.