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Ankur Gupta is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at the University of Colorado Boulder, which he joined in 2021. He received his B.Tech. in Chemical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi in 2012. He then moved to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he earned an M.S. in Chemical Engineering Practice in 2014 and a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering in 2017.

At MIT, Ankur investigated the formation of nanoemulsions and entrapped microdroplets under the mentorship of Professors Patrick S. Doyle and T. Alan Hatton. He completed his postdoctoral training in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Princeton University, working with Professor Howard A. Stone on electrolyte transport and phoretic phenomena.

At CU Boulder, Ankur leads the Laboratory of Interfaces, Flow, and Electrokinetics (LIFE). The LIFE group employs mathematical techniques that crosscut fields, enabling them to work on interdisciplinary problems in soft matter such as interfacial electrochemistry, colloidal physics, and biophysics, among others.

A central theme of their work is understanding how continuum models can be used to predict macroscale properties in complex systems. The existing models are computationally efficient and scalable, but are often formulated under idealized conditions. Therefore, their predictive power can be compromised by oversimplifying assumptions. Drawing inspiration from this knowledge gap, the LIFE group develops new strategies to retain computational efficiency while improving physical realism. Ankur鈥檚 group has made contributions to the specific fields of electrolyte transport, electrical double layers, self-propulsion, and diffusiophoresis.

Ankur鈥檚 independent research has been featured in The New Yorker, CNN, Daily Mail, Newsweek, The Print, and over 100 other media outlets. His contributions have been recognized with numerous honors, including the Chemical & Engineering News Talented 12, Johannes Lyklema Early Career Award in Electrokinetics, Air Force Young Investigator Award, AIChE 35 Under 35, Dream Chemistry Lecture, NSF CAREER Award, Soft Matter Emerging Investigator Award, and the Graduates of the Last Decade (GOLD) Award from IIT Delhi.

Ankur is also deeply committed to teaching, mentorship, and scientific communication. He has received multiple teaching awards, including a college-wide honor for undergraduate instruction. He contributes to LearnChemE.com and is currently developing digital experiments to enhance student learning in undergraduate fluid mechanics. Ankur鈥檚 favorite part of the day is working with his students; he has one of the largest whiteboards in the department, and it serves as his most-used scientific tool. He enjoys learning from and arguing with his students, and believes that mentorship is about helping students become independent thinkers who challenge his ideas and reshape the direction of the work.

Ankur is an active member of the scientific community. He has peer-reviewed over 150 manuscripts across a wide range of journals. He has also served as a symposium chair at major conferences, including ACS Colloids, APS Division of Fluid Dynamics, AIChE, ACS Fall Meeting, and the U.S. National Congress on Theoretical and Applied Mechanics (USNCTAM). He regularly serves on scientific panels and reviews for different funding agencies. He is also co-editing a book for the 蜜桃社区 on the topic of diffusiophoresis.

Ankur grew up near Delhi, India, and moved to the U.S. for graduate school. His undergraduate training played a formative role in shaping his scientific path. At IIT Delhi, he was initially unfamiliar with the idea of graduate school until his undergraduate advisor, Prof. Shantanu Roy, recognized his potential and encouraged him to apply, an act that deeply influenced his academic journey. He met his wife at MIT, and the two consider Boston a special place in their heart. Outside of work, Ankur enjoys playing with his one and a half year old son, playing bullet chess, cooking and eating Indian food, and listening to old Bollywood music and ghazals.