Rate My Professor Samanvaya Srivastava

Samanvaya Srivastava is an Associate Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Samueli School of Engineering. He earned his B.S. and M.S. in Chemical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur in 2009, a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from Cornell University in 2014 under Lynden Archer, and completed postdoctoral research at the University of Chicago's Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering with Matthew Tirrell in 2017. Srivastava joined the UCLA faculty in November 2017, advancing to associate professor. His research focuses on charge-driven self-assembly to design advanced soft materials, including organic-inorganic hybrid materials, the structure and dynamics of soft materials at the nanoscale, and applications utilizing X-ray and neutron scattering techniques, rheology, and polymer and nanomaterial synthesis and functionalization. These efforts target practical uses in biomedical adhesives for wound healing and tissue implants, cosmetics, coatings, construction materials, and 3D printing.

Srivastava has received numerous awards recognizing his contributions to chemical engineering, including the NSF CAREER Award in 2020 for developing durable wet adhesives, over $600,000 for five years; the AIChE 35 Under 35 Award in 2020; the American Chemical Society Young Investigator Award in 2022; the UCLA Faculty Career Development Award in 2018; the Royal Society of Chemistry Researcher Mobility Grant in 2017; and the Frank J. Padden Award Finalist from the American Physical Society in 2014. Key publications include 'Phase Behavior and Salt Partitioning in Polyelectrolyte Complex Coacervates' (Macromolecules, 2018), 'Structure and Rheology of Polyelectrolyte Complex Coacervates' (Soft Matter, 2018), 'Gel Phase Formation in Dilute Triblock Copolyelectrolyte Complexes' (Nature Communications, 2017), and 'Partitioning and Enhanced Self-Assembly of Actin in Polypeptide Coacervates' (Biophysical Journal, 2018). He serves as co-principal investigator on a $1.9 million NSF grant for cell-free biomanufacturing in 2025 and leads the Srivastava Lab at UCLA.