New Faculty Spotlight: Dr. Anand Asthagiri

Associate Professor
The Department of Chemical Engineering welcomed Dr. Anand Asthagiri in January 2011 as an associate professor. Dr. Asthagiri was attracted to Northeastern's plans for dynamic growth, the collegiality of the faculty and students and faculty scientific interaction. He believes that the work being done at Northeastern, from the students up to the administration, has the potential for great impact on the world.

Dr. Asthagiri grew up in the town of Kent, Ohio. He received his B.S. in chemical engineering from Cornell University and earned his Ph.D. in chemical engineering with a minor in molecular cell biology from MIT.Dr. Asthagiri's Ph.D. work explored the dynamics of adhesion and growth factor-mediated signaling and their co-regulation of DNA synthesis. He conducted his postdoctoral research at the Harvard Medical School, in the lab of Dr. Joan S. Brugge before becoming an assistant professor of chemical engineering at the California Institute of Technology.

The opportunities at Northeastern University and the chance to reconnect with the remarkable biomedical "playground" in New England drew Dr. Asthagiri back to Boston. He looks forward to collaborating with Northeastern faculty and the many universities, pharmaceutical companies, and small start-ups in the Boston area. Dr. Asthagiri is particularly interested in how cells function and how chemical engineers can influence those that function through analysis of interactions between cells and materials.

To bring his research expertise into the classroom, he looks forward to developing a cellular engineering class for graduate and senior undergraduate students. During the Spring 2011 semester at Northeastern, he taught the graduate level course CHME 7350, Transport Phenomena. The small class size allowed him to get to know the students and advise them on their assigned projects. Dr. Asthagiri enjoys mentoring students and has eagerly volunteered to be faculty advisor for the Graduate Student Council (GSC) to help facilitate greater communication between the students and faculty.

When Dr. Asthagiri is not teaching, he devotes his time to his family. He loves playing soccer and baseball with his daughter and talking about questions of the universe with his son. Dr. Asthagiri's favorite food is tiramisu; he plays tennis and enjoys Jack Nicholson movies.

With his experience and enthusiasm, Dr. Anand Asthagiri makes a great addition to the Department of Chemical Engineering.

Related Faculty: Anand Asthagiri

Related Departments:Chemical Engineering