Dr. Ramanathan Nagarajan served as a faculty member in the Department of Chemical Engineering at Penn State from 1979 until his retirement as Emeritus Professor of Chemical Engineering in 2005. His research interests cover the broad areas of molecular self-assembly, colloids, polymers and nanomaterials. Currently, he serves as the Army’s Senior Research Scientist in nanomaterials-based technologies especially to address soldier domain problem areas affecting individual Warfighter and small units, at the US Army DEVCOM Soldier Center. His fundamental and applied research program focuses on the development and incorporation of polymeric, biological, inorganic and carbon nanomaterials into soldier protective clothing and equipment for chemical, biological, flame, ballistic and environmental protection He is a senior advisor to the Director, DEVCOM Soldier Center and to other scientific and technical personnel within the Army and Department of Defense on general research problems related to the creation, development, and exploitation of advanced materials technology, especially that utilizing nanomaterials, for application to future Soldier systems. He is a mentor to young researchers. Through his own collaborative research and his leadership role in professional societies, he serves as a link between Army scientists and the community of international academic researchers in the broad areas of colloid, polymer and nanomaterial science. He was presented with the 2021 Presidential Meritorious Rank Award from President Biden.

EDUCATION

09/01/1974 – 05/30/1979 State University of New York at Buffalo, Amherst, NY
Degree: Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) – Major: Chemical Engineering
Dissertation Title: “Thermodynamics of Amphiphilar Aggregation in Aqueous and Non-aqueous Media”
Thesis Advisor: Professor Eli Ruckenstein

06/01/1971 – 04/30/1974 Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, India
Degree: Master of Technology (M. Tech) – Major: Chemical Engineering
Thesis Title: “A Medium Resolution Mass Spectrometer for Gas-Vapor Analysis”
Thesis Advisor: Professor Pradeep K. Ghosh and Professor C. V. Seshadri

06/01/1965 – 04/30/1970 Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, India
Degree: Bachelor of Technology (B. Tech.) – Major: Chemical Engineering

WORK EXPERIENCE

04/19/2015 – Present
US Army DEVCOM Soldier Center (Previously called Natick Soldier Research, Development & Engineering Center), Natick, MA
ST (Senior Research Scientist) Soldier Nanomaterials

08/21/2006 – 04/18/2015
Natick Soldier Research, Development & Engineering Center, Natick, MA
Research Chemical Engineer

6/29/2005 – 08/20/2006
Natick Soldier Research, Development & Engineering Center, Natick, MA
National Research Council Senior Research Associate

07/01/1979 – 06/28/2005
The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA
Assistant Professor, Associate Professor, Professor of Chemical Engineering
Retired as Emeritus Professor.

07/01/2002 – 06/30/2003
Cabot Corporation, Billerica, MA
Senior Scientist

07/01/1996 – 06/30/1997
Université Paul Sabatier, Toulouse, France
Directeur de Recherche Associé, CNRS

07/01/1988 – 06/30/1989
École Normale Superieure, Paris, France
Scientist