Rate My Professor Ashima Bagaria

Dr. Ashima Bagaria is a Professor in the Department of Physics and Associate Dean of the School of Physical and Biological Sciences within the Faculty of Science, Technology and Architecture at Manipal University Jaipur, a constituent of Manipal Academy of Higher Education. She earned her PhD in Physics from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, along with MSc and BSc degrees. With more than 17 years of combined research and teaching experience, she has been associated with the Department of Physics since 2014, serving as Head of the Department from October 2020 to December 2024. Her postdoctoral research positions include Yale School of Medicine at Yale University, Brookhaven National Laboratory, and Institut Pasteur in Paris. Dr. Bagaria has been awarded prestigious fellowships from the National Science Foundation (NSF, USA), National Institutes of Health (NIH, USA), and Agence nationale de la recherche (ANR, France). Additional honors include the Indian National Science Academy (INSA) Visiting Scientist Award, DST Women Scientist Award, Young Investigator Award from the Department of Biotechnology (DBT, India), and CSIR Junior and Senior Research Fellowships during her PhD.

Dr. Bagaria's research contributions in structural biophysics have been featured in Nature Structural Biology, with numerous publications in journals of international repute and over 50 presentations at conferences in India and abroad. She is an associate member of the Indian Academy of Physical Sciences (IAPS) and serves on the editorial board of Vijnan-Sandhan, IAPS's newsletter. Recently, she has advanced catalyst engineering for CO2 recycling, developing NiO-TiO2 nanoparticles enhanced with Fe3O4 clusters and PdSn electrocatalysts outperforming platinum in oxygen reduction reactions. She has successfully led externally funded projects, including a ₹1 crore AICTE IDEA Lab grant in collaboration with the Department of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning. Selected for the INSA-NCGG Leadership in Science and Technology (LEADS) program in 2025, she was appointed Associate Dean in January 2025, contributing significantly to interdisciplinary research and education in physical sciences.